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MEXICO. 


ITS  REVOLUTIONS: 

ARE    THEY   EVIDENCES  OF  RETROGRESSION 
OR   OF  PROGRESS? 


HISTORICAL  AND  POLITICAL  REVIEW, 


GEORGE    E.    CHURCH. 


REVISED  ERflll  THE  NEW  YORK  HERALD  OE  MAY  '25TH,  1 8(5(5 


NEW  YOTCK : 

15  A  K  K  U    A-     ( i  O  I )  \\  IN,     P  R  I  X  T  V.  K  S 

IMllNTINfMlorSK    SljT  U!K, 

1  S(H'). 


ME  T  ICO. 


ITS  REVOLUTIONS; 


ARE  THEY  EVIDENCES    OF    RETROGRESSION 
OR  OF  PROGRESS? 


HISTORICAL  AND  POLITICAL  REVIEW, 


GEORGE    E.    CHURCH. 


REVISED  FROM  THE  NEW  YORK  HERALD  OF  MAY  25TH,  1866. 


NEW    YORK: 
BAKER    <fc   GODWIN,    PRINTERS, 

PRINTING-HOUSE    SQUAEE. 

1866. 


*#*  NUMEROUS  applications  for  a  pamphlet  edition  of  my 
"  Historical  Review  of  Mexico"  have  induced  me  to  revise  that 
which  appeared  in  the  NEW  YORK  HERALD  of  May 
25th,  1866. 

For  a  clearer  understanding  of  the  subject,  many  details 
have  been  introduced,  appertaining  to  the  period  from  the 
"  Revolution  of  Ayutla  "  to  the  French  invasion;  for  it  was 
during  that  time  that  the  great  principles  for  which  .the  coun- 
try had  been  battling  were  raising  their  heads  above  the 
revolutionary  surges  which  had  so  long  deluged  the  land.  A 
supplement  has  also  been  added,  containing  some  of  the  later 
political  developments  relative  to  Mexico. 

GEORGE  E.  CHURCH. 
PROVIDENCE,  R.  I., 
July  4th,  1866. 


MEXICO  : 

Jfis  lUtoltiifotts  :  &n  %g  (^bifrentes  oi  ^iwQnt&wn  xrr 


A  HISTORICAL  AND  POLITICAL  REVIEW. 


PAKT  I. 


GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITION  OF  MEXICO — HER  COMMERCIAL  ADVAN- 
TAGES— THE  TRADE  CURRENTS  OF  THE  WORLD — CLIMATE, 
SOIL,  ETC. — HER  KEVOLUTIONS  ELEMENTS  OF  PROGRESS — 
ERA  OF  THE  SPANISH  CONQUEST — OCCUPATION  OF  THE  NEW 
WORLD — GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  VICEROYS — LAWS  OF  THE 
INDIES — EDUCATION. 

From  the  peculiar  and  commanding  geographical  position 
of  Mexico,  there  is,  perhaps,  no  country  in  the  world  destined 
to  play  a  more  important  role  in  the  history  of  mankind.  Sit- 
uated midway  between  supply  and  demand,  she  stands  like  a 
barrier,  interrupting  and  claiming  tribute  from  modern  Euro- 
pean civilization  on  the  east  and  ancient  Asiatic  civilization  on 
the  west.  At  her  western  doors  she  may  bathe  her  commercial 
enterprise  in  the  products  of  Japan,  China,  India,  Australia, 
and  all  the  islands  of  the  Pacific.  To  the  eastward,  the  vast 
wave  of  progressive  civilization  is  fast  rolling  onward  towards 
her  shore,  bearing  with  it  the  demands  for  ceaseless  activity, 
and  the  germs  of  national  development.  It  is  upon  her  terri- 
tory that  the  wave  of  empire,  which  has  for  so  many  centuries 
been  sweeping  westward,  reaches  the  confines  of  that  great  sea 

304822 


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from  whose  westeri.  o^ure  it  parted.  Northward  she  enjoys  the 
immediate  contact  of  the  wonderful  national  progress  of  the 
great  republic,  while  to  the  southward,  within  easy  reach,  lie 
the  trade  and  wealth  of  South  America.  There  is  not  a  com- 
mercial country  in  the  world  which  she  cannot  reach  by  easy 
water  communication  and  in  almost  a  straight  line. 

With  such  a  magnificent  geographical  position,  there  should 
spring  up  great  cities  and  commercial  centers  upon  her  terri- 
tory ;  for,  as  commerce  advances,  it  will  place  her,  with  reference 
to  the  modern  trade  of  the  world,  in  nearly  the  same  position 
that  Syria,  Mesopotamia,  and  the  whole  of  Western  Persia 
occupied  to  its  ancient  trade.  It  was  the  East  Indian  and 
European  trade  currents,  flowing  over  these  countries,  which 
gave  birth  to  the  cities  of  Selucia,  Palmyra,  Sidon,  and  her 
colony,  Tyre.  The  same  causes,  later,  forced  into  notice  Byzan- 
tium and  Alexandria,  made  Home  and  Carthage  centres  of  dis- 
tribution for  East  Indian  products,  and  gave  Venice  wealth  and 
power  to  turn  back  the  Ottoman  sword  from  Europe. 

No  better  illustration  of  the  importance  of  occupying  a 
central  position,  with  reference  to  the  great  trade  currents,  can 
be  selected  than  by  the  comparison  of  Europe  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  fifteenth  with  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
In  1498  her  whole  Indian  commerce  flowed  westward  from  its 
Asiatic  sources  through  the  old  laborious  channels  to  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  where  the  merchants  of  Genoa  and 
Venice  became  its  principal  European  distributors.  Every 
Mediterranean  port  resounded  to  the  hum  of  commercial  life. 
Suddenly  the  tide  was  turned ;  Vasco  de  Gama,  retracing  the 
track  made  by  Pharaoh  Necho's  Phoenician  ships  twenty 
centuries  before,  rolled  away  the  barriers  to  great  com- 
mercial development,  and  ordered  Europe  henceforth  to  look  to 
the  Atlantic  coast  for  centers  of  East  Indian  supply.  The  whole 
Atlantic  seaboard  immediately  sprang  to  meet  the 'demands 
made  upon  it,  and  to  reap  the  civilizing  influences  caused  by  an 
intense  forcing  of  mental  activity  to  supply  the  wants  of  rival 
commercial  interests,  and  gather  the  new  harvest  laid  at  the 
feet  of  Western  Europe.  It  was  like  a  desert  simoon  to  the 
Mediterranean  ports ;  the  great  Nile  of  Asiatic  commerce, 
which  had  annually  borne  in  its  tide  the  segregated  wealth  of 
the  Indies,  had  changed  its  course,  and  now  poured  its  wealth 
around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  through  the  dreaded  portals 
of  Hercules.  The  Mediterranean  ports  which  had  throve  upon 
its  bounty  suddenly  sunk  into  mere  local  importance ;  or,  no 
longer  imbibing  its  fructifying  power,  became,  like  Venice,  a 
mournful  wreck  of  their  former  splendor.  The  world  now 
breathed  westward.  Wafted  in  its  breath,  the  great  trade  cur- 


rents  are  now  fast  settling  their  foci  upon  the  northern  half  of 
the  New  World,  and  point  unerringly  to  a  culmination  in  Mex- 
ico ;  for,  as  they  have  advanced  westward,  constantly  nearing 
the  great  source  of  supply,  and  constantly  having  more  demand 
to  the  east  of  them,  the  cities  with  which  they  have  been  preg- 
nant have  risen  to  opulence  and  grandeur  in  proportion  to  their 
ability  to  intercept  and  distribute  the  waves  of  wealth  flowing 
past  them. 

Mexico,  so  favorably  situated,  must  then  have  at  her  com-\ 
mand  more  elements  than  any  other  country  ever  before  pos-  ' 
sessed  for  the  building  up  of  a  mighty  people.  Under  the 
colonial  rule  of  Spain,  the  advantages  which  she  possessed  for  a 
direct  trade  with  the  Indies  were  not  overlooked,  and  her  splen- 
did harbor  of  Acapulco,  upon  the  western  coast,  became  the 
great  center  of  East  India  commerce,  not  only  for  all  the  Span- 
ish-American possessions,  but  even  for  the  mother  country,  who 
found  it  to  her  advantage  to  ship  direct  to  the  Indies,  from  the 
Mexican  mines,that  silver  which  the  Asiatics  so  largely  demand 
in  exchange  for  their  products ;  while,  from  Acapulco,  many  of 
the  East  India  goods,  crossing  the  country  by  the  great  national 
road  to  Yera  Cruz,  were  reshipped  to  supply  the  demand  in  old 
Spain. 

Added  to  the  blessings  of  geographical  position,  there  is, 
internally,  no  country  in  the  world  which  surpasses  Mexico  in 
the  natural  blessings  of  climate,  fertile  soil,  and  opportunities 
for  the  development  of  agricultural,  pastoral,  and  mineral 
wealth.  While  under  a  united  people  her  military  position 
would  be  almost  invulnerable.  Thus  preeminent  among  the 
countries  of  the  world,  she  occupies  a  superior  position  for 
great  national  development,  homogeneousness,  and  intense  con- 
centration of  the  elements  of  stability. 

In  making  this  statement  we  are  not  unmindful  of  the  refined 
horrors  entailed  upon  her  by  Spanish  misrule,  nor  its  zealous 
cultivation  into  still  more  bitter  fruit  by  the  Mexican  clergy :  it 
is  this  which  has  prevented  her  from  making  use  of  those  mag- 
nificent advantages  which  Heaven  has  conferred  upon  her. 
Mexico  has  been  too  much  derided  by  the  world  for  her  misfor- 
tunes. Our  countrymen  are  too  fond  of  having  her  painted 
writhing  under  the  miseries  from  which  for  a  half  century  she 
has  been  trying  to  shake  herself  free.  We  have  been  too  willing 
to  compare  her  woes  with  the  happiness  of  our  own  country, 
which  was  born  under  different  circumstances ;  for,  while  every- 
thing aided  us  in  our  national  advancement,  she  drank  the 
bitterest  dregs  that  were  ever  poured  out  for  the  mental  crush- 
ing of  a  people. 

But,  in  speaking  of  her  chances  in  the  great  march  of  nations, 


we  are  looking  into  the  future,  when  this  Mexican  chaos  shall 
have  cooled  down,  and  the  volcanic  elements  so  rudely  stirred 
to  action  by  her  priesthood  shall  find  outlet  in  more  peaceful 
pursuits ;  when  that  great  cloud  of  fifteenth  century  darkness 
which  found  its  Spanish-American  focus  in  Mexico  shall  be 
swept  away  by  the  advancing  sun  of  modern  civilization,  and 
her  people,"  freed  from  the  incubus  of  a  long  night  of  bigoted 
religious  misrule,  may  really  develop  their  unexampled  oppor- 
tunities for  national  prosperity. 

The  insurrectionary  outbreaks  which  have  so  long  desolated 
the  Spanish- American  countries  are  necessary  to  their  progress 
in  the  direction  of  civilization ;  at  each  new  revolt,  some  griev- 
ance, some  curse  which  the  rule  of  old  Spain  inflicted  upon 
them,  is  thrown  into  its  grave,  and  the  next  uprising  buries  it 
completely.  'No  one  who  has  not  lived  in  Spanish- American 
countries  and  studied  their  colonial  history,  can  judge  of  the 
depth  of  the  flood  of  entailed  woes  in  which  they  have  had  to 
float  their  republican  arks  for  a  half  century,  until  the  subsid- 
ing revolutionary  surges  might  give  them  some  hope  of  rest. 
Nor  does  history  present  instances  in  European  progress  where 
so  much  misrule  has  been  shaken  off  so  quickly. 

In  all  the  Spanish- American  republics,  it  will  be  found  as  a 
rule  that,  in  proportion  to  their  distance  from  Mexico,  the  great 
center  of  Spanish- American  Catholic  power,  so  has  been  their 
progress  in  civilization  since  their  war  of  independence ;  for  the 
great  prime  causes,  especially  in  Mexico,  of  the  numerous  revo- 
lutions, have  been  the  attempts  of  the  progressive  portio"n  of 
her  people  to  shake  themselves  free  from  the  crushing  rule  of 
the  clergy.  But  circumstances  far  back  in  the  history  of  Spain, 
and  having  more  direct  and  powerfully  drawn  lines  of  cause  and 
effect  than  most  historical  events,  conspired  to  turn  Spanish 
character  into  a  tide  that  spent  its  full  and  culminating  force 
upon  the  American  colonies. 


!3j)ain,  at  the  very  date  of  the  discovery  of  America,  was 
taking  breath  after  the  most  terrible  religious  war  on  record. 
It  had  taken  nearly  eight  hundred  years  for  the  flow  and  ebb 
of  the  Moslem  tide,  and  in  that  time  the  whole  nation  had 
received  an  intensely  concentrated  religious  education  in  a 
single  given  direction.  Spain  was  the  great  battle-ground,  the 
bulwark  of  Catholicism  against  the  more  tolerant  Moslem  faith, 
whose  cimeters,  having  carved  their  way  across  her  territory, 
were  threatening  to  rest  on  the  plains  of  Italy,  under  the 
shadows  of  the  Moslem  standards  which  were  advancing  west- 
ward. Spurred  on  by  all  the  fiery  fanaticism  which  the  Catho- 


lie  faith  could  inspire,  the  whole  nation  lost  itself  in  a  single 
idea,  and  became  the  mighty  exponent  of  Catholic  militant 
power  in  western  Europe.  As  war  rolled  on,  and  shock  after 
shock  baptized  the  Cross  in  Moslem  blood,  the  mind  of  Spain 
lost  its  balance ;  every  element  of  the  intellect  was  forced  into 
the  channel  of  religious  fervor,  until  Spain  became  educated  to 
engraft  upon  jier  moral  code  the  most  revolting  crimes.*  Relig- 
ious fanaticism,  true  to  its  instincts  to  enslave,  not  to  cultivate, 
the  intellect,  step  by  step  crushed  out  every  ennobling  influence, 
until  the  former  generosity  of  Spanish  character  lost  itself  in 
the  darkness  which  advanced  southward  with  their  armies. 
The  wild  tide,  while  it  hurled  back  the  Moors  and  drowned 
human  progress  in  its  waves,  at  length  reached  the  Spanish 
Jews,  who,  with  all  their  advancement  in  civilization,  refine- 
ment, and  wealth,  bent  to  the  blast  which  seemed  to  drive  civ- 
ilization to  the  shelter  of  the  Crescent.  At  length  came  the 
Inquisition,  to  enthrone  itself  upon  the  ruin,  fit  sovereign  to 
crush  out  the  last  spark  of  intellectual  opposition  to  religious 
fanaticism,  and  in  the  wild  wreck  to  sway  the  destinies  of  a 
people. 

The  rulers  of  Spain  were  at  that  time  the  monks  and  inquisitors. 
Their  sovereign,  the  exponent  of  a  religious  idea,  turned  the 
thunderbolts  m  his  power  to-  the  task  of  the  upholding  of  the 
Cross  and  the  overthrow  of  the  heretic.  The  whole  country 
became  a  vast  monastery,  in  which  the  stormy  elements  of  the 
times  swayed  natures  as  potent  for  religion,  ambition  and  ava- 
rice as  ever  figured  in  history  ;  and  all  these  elments  swayed  by 
the  Roman  pontiff  became  in  his  hands  the  lash  with  which  he 
scourged  Europe.  The  brain  of  Spain,  at  all  times  powerful 
in  the  direction  of  its  education,  proved  what  mighty  efforts  man 
can  make  when  his  forces  are  led  in  a  given  direction.  The 
period  produced  some  of  the  most  extraordinary  men  of  history, 
and  though  we  lament  the  talent  which,  perverted,  flooded  all 
opposition  to  its  inclinations,  we  can  but  admire  the  genius 
which  could  spring  from  such  elements  and  wield  such  power 
with  so  much  success. 

Suddenly  the  barriers  which  had  for  so  many  centuries  held 
in  check  the  flood  of  religious  fervor  were  no  more.  Swept 
southward  by  the  fanatical  torrent,  the  Moors  had  disappeared 
across  the  Mediterranean,  and  Spain  was  at  length  free  from 


*  "  Any  one,  it  was  said,  might  conscientiously  kill  an  apostate  whenever  he 
could  meet  him.  There  was  some  doubt  whether  a  man  might  slay  his  own 
father,  if  a  heretic  or  infidel,  but  none  whatever  as  to  his  right,  in  that  event, 
to  take  away  the  life  of  his  son  or  his  brother."— Prescott's  Ferdinand  and  Isa- 
bella, vol.  2,  p.  451. 


8 

civilization  and  the  Crescent  —  the  spiritual  fervor  was  at  a 
loss  where  to  vent  its  fury  ;  the  national  mind,  missing  its  ac- 
customed recreation,  turned  its  forces  wherever  the  sanctity  of 
the  Cross  was  to  be  upheld,  and  found  employment  under  Car- 
dinal Ximenes,  in  a  campaign  against  the  Moors  of  Northern 
Africa,  or,  later  still,  against  Splyman  the  Magnificent,  in 
Hungary,  and  the  crushing  of  Protestantism  in  Germany.  But 
this  was  not  enough  for  the  occupation  of  all  Ihe  turbulent 
spirits  to  which  eight  centuries  of  warfare  had  given  birth. 
They  sighed  for  a  wider  field,  and  as  if  destiny  had  fixed  the 
proper  moment,  the  ships  of  Columbus  brought  back  the  tidings 
of  the  wonderful  New  v^orld  which  was  to  become  a  curse  to 
Spain,  of  the  vast  fields  which  were  open  for  the  planting  of  the 
Cross  and  the  propagation  of  the  faith.  The  stories  of  untold 
treasures  to  be  gained  there  expanded  like  wave  ripples,  and 
pandering  to  the  cupidity  of  the  mind  linked  its  two  most  pow- 
erful forces,  religion  ana  avarice.  The  brain  of  Spain  became 
a  vast  crucible  in  which  the  fiery  Spanish  imagination  melted 
down  the  wealth  of  the  New  World  and  threw  its  power  into 
the  religious  idea  that  still  swayed  the  nation.  The  conquest 
of  Mexico  by  Cortez,  the  boldest  Jilibustero  of  his  time,  and  the 
overthrow  of  the  Empire  of  the  Incas  by  his  cousin,  Pizarro, 
with  the  tide  of  treasure  which  immediately  poured  into  Spain, 
inflamed  to  a  still  higher  degree  the  imagination  which  had  been 
tame  in  its  estimates  of  results.  To  the  Spaniard  the  new  sun 
which  shimmered  in  the  west  was  full  of  opulent  empires  only 
awaiting  the  Cross  and  sword  of  some  bold  adventurer  to  build 
a  mighty  family  upon  their  ruins. 

Expeditions  launched  out  in  quick  succession  and  headed 
toward  the  New  World.  They  were  composed  of  hardy  sol- 
diers who  had  bronzed  their  faces  in  the  wars  of  Italy  under 
the  great  captain,  or.in  the  wars  of  Spain  against  the  Moors  ; 
of  Hidalgos  of  all  classes  ;  from  the  noble  with  royal  blood 
to  the  "  Hidalgo  de  Bragueta ;  "  and  while  they  drew  into  their 
wild  excitement  much  of  the  best  blood  of  the  Peninsula,  they 
also  furnished  an  outlet  for  much  of  the  most  turbulent  and  un- 
principled element  of  the  Spanish  population.  The  first  expe- 
ditions were  generally  of  a  better  class  than  the  emigration 
which  followed.  The  countries  being  all  occupied  or  appor- 
tioned to  Adalantados  there  was  left  no  inducement  to  men  to 
organize  such  knightly  expeditions  as  Pedro  de  Mendoza  fitted 
at  nis  own  cost  and  led  to  the  conquest  of  the  La  Plata  region 
in  ISS^/Mendoza  in  this  expedition  agreed  to  take  with  nim 
ofie  thousand  men,  well  armed  and  equipped,  with  physicians 
for  the  sick,  and  a  number  of  missionaries  for  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians.  The  latter  point  was  particularly  insisted  upon  by 


the  Emperor.  Not  even  the  salary  of  an  Adalantado — two 
thousand  ducats  per  year — was  to  be  claimed  by  Mendoza.  It 
was,  moreover,  especially  stipulated  in  his  contract  that  if  any 
sovereign  prince  should  fall  into  his  hands  his  ransom,  although 
belonging  by  law  to  the  Emperor,  should  be  divided  among  the 
congmstadores,  deducting  only  the  royal  fifth.  It  was  by  such 
contracts  as  this  that  the  New  World  was  apportioned  to  the 
adventurous  spirits  of  the  times.  To  indicate  the  intense  ac- 
tivity of  the  Spanish  mind  in  the  direction  of  America,  it  may 
be  stated  that,  so  soon  as  the  terms  of  the  contract  were  promul- 
gated, crowds  of  all  classes  presented  themselves.  No  less  than 
fifty  grandees  and  gentlemen  of  distinction  took  part  in  this  ex- 
pedition. Among  them  was  Don  Juan  de  Osorio,  who  had 
gained  great  renown  in  the  wars  of  Italy  ;  Don  Diego  de  Men- 
doza, a  brother  of  the  Adalantado,  and  who  was  named  Admiral 
of  the  fleet ;  Juan  de  Ayolas,  Don  Domingo  Martinez,  after- 
wards a  famous  poet ;  Francisco  de  Mendoza,  major  domo  of 
the  King  of  the  Romans,  and  Don  Carlos  Dubin,  foster  brother 
of  the  Emperor  ;  all  volunteers  led  bv  the  spirit  of  adventure 
and  the  desire  of  riches.  The  multitude  desirous  to  embark 
became  so  great  that  it  was  necessary  to  sail  before  the  ap- 
pointed day  ;  and  when  the  account  was  taken  of  the  number 
on  board  the  fourteen  vessels  which  composed  the  fleet,  it  was 
found  that  instead  of  the  one  thousand  men  for  which  Mendoza 
had  stipulated,  there  were  twenty-five  hundred  Spaniards  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  Germans,  besides  the  crews  of  the  ves- 
sels.* 

%It  did  not  appear  to  be  the  policy  of  Spain  to  found  agricul- 
tural dependencies.  The  New  World,  in  its  earlier  develop- 
ments, was  considered  a  vast  treasure-house  of  the  precious 
metals.  The  expeditions  of  Hernando  Cortez  and  Francisco 
Pizarro  had  demonstrated  the  truth  of  the  theory,  and  Spain 
acted  upon  this  principle,  expecting  in  return  for  her  expeditions 
not  agricultural  but  mineral  products.  Wherever  agricultural 
settlements  were  formed,  as  on  the  banks  of  the  La  Plata,  they 
were  the  results  of  the  disappointed  hopes  of  the  conquistadores, 
who,  failing  in  their  attemps  to  realize  their  golden  dreams,  had 
been  forced  to  cultivate  the  lands  around  them  to  sustain  life. 

The  conquest  of  the  country,  whether  to  glut  their  avarice 
or-  religious  bigotry,  was  the  prime  object ;  and  they  carried  it 
onward  with  a  courage  and  perseverance  which  the  sole  exer- 
cise of  the  two  most  powerful  elements  of  the  mind  could  bring 
to  bear  for  the  object  in  view.  The  tide  of  conquest,  after  des- 
olating Mexico,  swept  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  over- 

*  See  Sir  W.  Parish's  Rio  de  la  Plata. 


10 

threw  the  Empire  of  the  Incas.  Southward  it  flowed,  bearing  all 
before  it,  until  at  Valdivia  they  found  something  of  the  courage 
in  the  Araucanian  tribes  wmch  animated  their  own  swords ; 
and  from  that  day  to  this  the  Araucanians,  Huelches,  Puelches, 
Pehuenches,  and  "Pampas  have  held  their  territory.* 

The  country  in  great  part  conquered,  there  became  no  longer 
any  new  kingdoms  awaiting  the  adventurous  sword ;  and  the 
problem  then  was  to  make  the  most  of  the  silver  harvest  which 
had  fallen  into  their  hands:,  and  to  see  how  much  precious  metal 
might  be  produced  in  the  shortest  possible  time.  The  wars  of 
Charles  Y.  and  Phillip  II.  demanded  that  the  colonies  should 
produce  largely  ;  and  between  the  exactions  of  the  clergy  and 
the  demands  of  the  Crown,  the  colonies  were  ground  into  silver, 
grained  through  Indian  blood.  The  sway  of  the  earlier  con- 
querers  overthrew  a  civilization  in  Mexico  and  Peru  which  they 
scarcely  replaced  during  their  occupation  of  the  country. 
Spanish  America  was  wrecked,  and  like  a  huge  hulk  thrown 
among  savages,  she  was  torn  in  pieces  to  obtain  the  metal  that  held 
her  together.  .It  is  mournful  to  contemplate  what  a  garden  she 
might  have  been  to  the  mother  country  had  a  liberal  policy 
ruled  the  councils  of  the  nation  in  its  government.  What  could 
have  been  the  government  of  the  colonies  during  that  long  night  of 
Spanish  misrule  that  it  could  so  brand  itselt  upon  them,  that 
after  fifty  years  of  revolutionary  throes,  they  have  been  unable 
to  shake  themselves  entirely  free  from  the  curses  which  still 
linger  in  their  valleys  and  hold  the  cup  of  misery  to  the  lips  of 
their  people.  Humanity  might  well  draw  a  veil  over  these 
woes.  It  is  a  sickening  tale  of  horror  to  run  through  the  three 
hundred  years  of  sword,  bullet,  fagot,  torture,  and  famine ;  but 
a  glance  at  it  is  necessary  to  our  views  of  the  leniency  with 
which  we  should  judge  the  Spanish-American  people  in  their 
struggles  for  stable  government.  In  Mexico,  especially,  every- 
thing appeared  to  conspire  to  hold  her  in  the  depth  of  physical 
and  mental  degradation.  Under  the  Viceroys  she  suffered  all 
the  miseries  which  bad  government  at  home,  administered  by 
unprincipled  colonial  officials,  could  deal  out  to  her. 

Although  the  "  Laws  of  the  Indies  "  gave  the  right  to  Creoles 
to  hold  even  the  highest  offices,  the  law  of  Charles  Y.  stating 
"  that  the  discoverers,  the  settlers  and  their  posterity  and  those 
born  in  the  country  were  to  be  preferred  before  all  others  in  the 
offices  of  the  Church,  State,  and  jurisprudence,"  yet  of  the  one 

*  The  author  has  had  the  pleasure  of  participating  in  two  battles  against  the 
banded  tribes  above  mentioned,  and  can  attest  to  their  courage,  which  has  lost 
nothing  of  its  former  energy.  We  have  seen  them  charge  a  regiment  of  modern 
infantry  with  rude  lances  made  of  reeds,  having  sharpened  pieces  of  hoop-iron 
bound  to  the  ends  of  them  with  hide  thongs. 


11 

hundred  and  sixty  Viceroys  who  ruled  during  the  time  that 
Spain  held  her  colonies  only  four  were  Creoles  or  natives  of  the 
colonies  by  Spanish  parents  ;  and  these  four  owed  their  position 
to  an  education  received  in  the  mother  country,  to  which  they 
had  added  a  powerful  home  influence.  Every  situation,  even 
the  lowest  Custom-House  clerkship,  was  held  by  an  European. 
Of  six  hundred  and  two  Captain  Generals  all  but  fourteen  were 
Spaniards. 

The  laws  were  very  rigid  in  reference  to  the  conferring  oi 
ecclesiastical  benefices  upon  the  descendants  of  the  conquista- 
dores  and  "  pacificators "  of  the  country ;  but  they  were  so 
evaded  that,  notwithstanding  the  law  stipulated  that  no  Spaniard 
could  hold  such  a  benefice,  even  if  appointed  by  the  King  him- 
self, yet  of  five  hundred  and  fiftv  ecclesiastics  who  had  reached 
the  episcopal  dignity  in  the  N ew  World,  only  fifty-five  were 
natives.  The  Viceroys,*  with  rare  exceptions,  were  men  whose 
ruined  fortunes  and  profligate  life  at  home  had  left  them  no 
hope,  unless  an  appointment  in  the  New  World  might  enable 
them  in  a  few  years  of  its  occupancy  to  return  loaded  with 
plundered  wealth.  Generally,  men  of  the  vilest  antecedents, 
court  parasites,  uneducated  and  bigoted,  they  appeared  to  be 
selected  as  crushing  machines  for  colonial  silver  mines.  They 
were  the  first  to  violate  the  law  which  allowed  the  Creoles  to 
hold  office.  The  distance  to  the  mother  country  and  the  fact 
that  all  complaints  had  to  pass  through  the  hands  of  those  who 
held  office  were  effectual  preventives  to  all  redress  of  this  great 
grievance.  At  one  time,  under  Godoy's  rule  of  the  Indies,  every 
office  in  the  Mexican  viceroyalty  was  publicly  sold  at  auction. 

The  power  of  the  Viceroy  was  more  than  regal.  The  troops 
were  entirely  under  his  command.  Every  civil  and  military 
appointment  was  dependent  upon  him  as  President  of  the  "  Real 
Audiencia,"  which  controlled  all  appointments  by  virtue  of  the 
"Laws  of  the  Indies."  His  salary  was  $60,000  per  year:  yet 
off  of  this  he  lived  like  an  eastern  monarch  and  returned  home 
in  a  few  years  with  a  princely  fortune.  "  He  reaped  profits  on 
the  illegal  sales  of  titles  and  distinctions,  granting  licenses  and 
the  introduction  of  foreign  goods,"  while  "  at  one  time  even 
government  situations  were  in  great  demand  without  a  salary,"f 
the  opportunities  for  plunder  were  so  numerous.  Special  priv- 
ileges or  "  Fueros  "  were  granted  to  Spaniards  which  enabled 
them  to  make  vast  sums  of  money.  Spanish-America  appeared 

*  There  were  originally  but  two  Viceroyalties,  Mexico  and  Pern.  The  Vice- 
royalty  of  New  Grenada  was  established  in  1718,  that  of  Venezuela  in  1731,  that 
of  Chile  in  1734,  and  that  of  Buenos  Ayres  in  1778.) 

t  See  Ward's  Mexico, 


12 


to  be  an  immense  field  over  which  avarice  rim  riot  in  acts  of 
oppression  and  misrule. 

The  repartimentos  and  the  mita  were  other  evils  forced  upon, 
the  country.  The  mita,  as  if  to  grind  out  every  physical  effort 
of  the  Indian,  imposed  the  most  abject  slavery.  It  was  a  year's 
personal  toil  exacted  from  him  ;  and  the  owner  of  every  mine 
had  a  right  to  a  certain  number  of  Indian  workmen,  to  whom 
he  paid  four  reals  (fifty  cents)  per  day.  This  was  insufficient 
to  keep  the  Indian  and  his  family  from  starvation.  A  system  of 
^credit  was  however  established,  whereby  the  Indian  could  re- 
itain  life  while  his  physical  energies  endured,  the  owner  of  the 
mine  crediting  him  with  absolute  necessities  ;  but  if  at  the  end 
jof  his  term  of  service  he  was  in  debt,  the  law  forced  him  to  re- 
main until  it  was  paid.  As  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  pay  itr 
the  poor  Indian  found  no  relief  from  his  misery  except  in  death, 
which  from  scanty  food,  hard  labor,  and  exposure,  seldom  gave 
him  more  than  two  or  three  years'  lease  of  existence.  The  de- 
struction of  Indian  life  was  immense ;  to  be  detailed  to  work 
in  the  mines  was  considered  by  the  Indian  as  a  sentence  of 
death.  Out  of  his  scanty  earnings  he  was  obliged  to  pay  a 
capitation  tax  of  eight  dollars  per  head,  not  to  speak  of  the  ex- 
actions of  the  clergy,  which  will  be  hereafter  mentioned.  The 
result  upon  the  Indian  element  in  Mexico  was  not  so  crushing 
as  in  the  other  colonies  farther  removed  from  the  mother  coun- 
try, consequently  more  liable  to  misrule ;  but  even  in  Mexico 
the  philanthropic  Las  Casas  has  depicted  cruelties  which  freeze 
the  blood.  In  the  1,400  mines  of  Peru,  it  is  stated*  that  no 
less  than  8,285,000  Indians  perished  under  colonial  rule ;  but 
this  must  be  an  exaggeration.  The  Indian  could  not  hold  prop- 
erty to  exceed  the  value  of  $50  without  permission  of  the  "  Pro- 
tector de  los  naturales,"  appointed  by  the  King. 

Education,  at  all  times  necessary  to  the  intellectual  expan- 
sion of  a  people,  was  confined  in  the  colonies  to  the  narrowest 
limits.  W  hile  the  rest  of  the  world  was  basking  in  the  sunshine 
of  a  mighty  intellectual  advancement,  while  Protestantism  was 
confirming  the  right  to  think  which  God  gave  to  man,  the 
whole  of  Spanish- America  was  overspread  with  the  dark  veil  of 
bigotry.  The  curse  which  had  rested  on  Europe  for  so  many 
centuries,  and  from  which,  after  long  and  tremendous  efforts, 
she  had  shaken  herself  free,  fled  to  the  New  World,  where, 
nursed  by  ambition,  avarice,  and  all  the  most  fearful  elements 
of  perverted  human  nature,  it  found  a  soil  where  its  seeds, 
planted  by  the  Viceroys  and  their  parasites,  and  nurtured  by 


See  General  Miller's  Memoirs. 


13 


the  clergy,  weighed  heavily  upon  the  oppressed  Creole  and  Indian 
races. 

The  only  studies  permitted  in  the  schools  were  Latin  gram- 
mar, ancient  philosophy,  theology,  and  civil  and  canonical 
jurisprudence,  while  the  only  history  taught  was  that  of  Spain. 
"Public  schools  were  forbidden  under  plea  that  "  it  was  not  ex- 
pedient for  learning  to  become  general  in  America."  Complete 
ignorance  was  the  policy  imposed.  The  Board  of  Trade  at 
Buenos  Ayres  was  not  allowed  to  establish  a  school  of  mathe- 
matics, it  being  suppressed  by  the  Yiceroy  Joaquin  del  Pino. 
Juan  Francisco,  an  Opata  chief,  journeyed  on  foot  to  Mexico,  a 
distance  of  five  hundred  miles,  and  crossed  the  Ocean  to  Mad- 
rid, to  solicit  the  privilege  of  teaching  to  his  tribe  the  mere 
rudiments  of  education.  This  petition  to  the  "  Council  of  the 
Indies  "  was  rejected  in  1T98._  Cirilo  de  Castella,  a  cacique, 
failed  in  a  similar  cause,  which,  after  a  twenty  years'  effort  at 
Madrid,  resulted  in  his  death.  Merida,  in  Venezuela,  was,  by 
Charles  IV.,  refused  permission  to  found  a  university.  In 
Mexico  every  effort  in  a  similar  direction  proved  entirely  fruit- 
less. With  the  exception  of  Peru,  Buenos  Ayres,  and  Mexico, 
printing  presses  were  denied  to  the  colonies.  In  the  latter  vice- 
royalty,  so  late  as  1806,  there  was  but  one  printing  press,  and 
that  was  under  the  control  of  the  government,  to  promulgate 
laws  for  the  crushing  of  the  people  and  the  exaction  of 
revenue. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  detail  the  acts  committed  during  this 
long  night  of  saturnalian  horrors  which  held  high  carnival 
from  San  Francisco  to  Valdivia.  "We  shall  find  in  the  war  of 
the  Revolution  sufficient  human  suffering  to  pander  to  the 
naturally  morbid  condition  of  the  mind  which  delights  in  pic- 
tures of  concentrated  misery. 

During  the  long  colonial  dependence  of  the  Americas,  the 
exclusive  policy  of  the  mother  country  had  shut  them  out  from 
the  progress  of  the  Old  World ;  they  gained  nothing  by  abra- 
sion with  other  nationalities ;  they  were  free  from  the  heretical 
doctrines  which  were  rocking  Europe  like  a  cradle,  and  which 
were  giving  birth  to  a  new  era  in  the  history  of  religion  and 
civilization.  The  jealous  exclusion  of  all  historical  information, 
except  that  portion  of  the  history  of  Spain,  which,  having  passed 
the  censorship  of  the  clergy,  was  deemed  fitted  for  the  colonial 
mind,  had  narrowed  their  'ideas  of  humanity,  and  entirely  un- 
prepared them  for  the  flood  of  light  which  was  to  pour  in  upon 
them  when  the  Bourbon  dynasty  was  overthrown  in  the  mother 
country. 


PART    II. 

INFLUENCE  OF  CATHOLICISM. — THE  CLERGY  THE  GREAT  REVOLU- 
TIONARY ELEMENT. — THEIR  IMMORALITY  AND  EXACTIONS. — 
-  THE  EFFECT  ON  THE  CREOLES  AND  MIXED  RACES. — BUCCA- 
NEERING— THE  EFFECT  OF  THE  INVASION  OF  SPAIN  BY  BONA- 
PARTE— OPPOSITION  OF  THE  SPANISH- AMERICAN  CLERGY  TO 

•  THE  FRENCH  OCCUPATION  OF  AMERICA. — ESTABLISHMENT  OF 
COLONIAL  JUNTAS. — SEVERE  MEASURES  OF  THE  CADIZ  REGEN- 
CY.— RESTORATION  OF  FERDINAND  VII. — SAVAGE  MEASURES 

AGAINST  THE  COLONIES. APPEAL    OF   THE    COLONIES  TO 


Catholicism  had  found  a  virgin  field  in  America,  where  it 
had  luxuriated  and  spread  its  dogmas,  free  from  all  contact 
with  heresies  which  might  contaminate  it.  The  land  was  free 
from  the  seeds  of  the  Eleatie  philosophy  which  the  school  of 
Xenophanes,  Parmenides,  and  Zeno  had  drawn  from  physical 
speculations.  It  was  free  from  the  scientific  deductions  which 
Aristotle  and  Zeno  had  planted  in  the  Old  World.  The  Church 
of  Rome  did  not  have  to  step  into  the  New-AVorld  and  dash 
aside  such  theories  as  the  opening  of  the  Egyptian  ports  had 
spread  over  Europe.  There  was  no  contact  with  extraneous 
elements ;  no  Pantheism  to  the  east  of  them ;  no  Greek  philos- 
ophy ;  no  Mahommedism  to  overrun  some  of  the  fairest  territory 
of  the  church  ;  no  sects  to  distract  the  faithful ;  no  Trinitarian 
controversy  to  set  the  mind  in  action.  The  religious  force  which 
had  concentrated  itself  in  the  Old  World  burst  over  the  virgin 
wilds  of  the  New  like  a  pestilence.  The  fanatical  monk  pene- 
trated with  the  crucifix  into  the  midst  of  the  most  savage  tribes ; 
while  sword,  fire,  and  massacre  were  the  true  instruments  used 
in  the  propagation  of  the  faith,  and  made  more  converts  than 
the  Bible,  whose  blessed  teachings  the  Indians  received  at  the 
point  of  the  sabre.  Truly,  the  sword  holds  mighty  arguments, 
and,  as  Mahommedan  and  Christian  have  proven,  makes  more 
converts  than  tongue  or  pen. 

In  touching  the  results  of  the  establishment  of  Catholic 
power  in  the  New  World,  we  are  not  attacking  the  high  moral 
teachings  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  but  the  perversion  of  its 
religion  when  in  the  hands  of  bad  men,  and  its  wonderful 
capacity  for  such  perversion.  We  know  that  the  Catholic 
religion  was  born  of  the  moral  wants  of  the  Mediterranean 
nations,  who,  completely  sunk  in  immorality,  were  ready  to 
seize  upon  any  faith  which  could  lift  them  from  the  degradation 


15 

into  which  the  crimes  and  lust  of  the  Eoman  empire  had  sunk 
them  ;  but,  like  any  other  great  monopoly  of  the  human  mind 
in  a  single  direction,  it  soon  became  perverted,  and  deemed  no 
measure  too  atrocious  to  obtain  proselytes.  We  may  not,  as 
Protestants,  arrogate  too  much  virtue  in  our  own  minds,  or 
proclaim  ourselves  free  from  the  same  religious  madness  which 
wrecks  what  it  would  beautify.  We  have  only  to  look  at  our 
early  history  to  find  acts  which  are  kindred  to  those  of  the  In- 
quisition, and  that  opportunity  was  alone  lacking  to  make 
proselytes  with  quite  as  much  fanatical  spirit  as  was  ever  used 
by  the  clergy  of  Rome  in  the  New  World. 

In  tracing  the  causes  of  the  numberless  revolutions  of  the 
Spanish- American  States,  we  shall  find  that  at  every  phase  of 
their  history,  and  especially  in  Mexico,  the  clergy  have  been 
the  great  vital  principle  which  has  occasioned  the  chronic  revo- 
lutionary condition  of  the  country.  To  form  an  idea  of  their 
power,  it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  the  immense  influence  which 
they  exercised  in  colonial  affairs,  and  the  vast  accumulations  of 
wealth  which,  by  every  art  avarice  could  suggest,  they  wrung 
from  Spaniard  and  native.  There  were  in  Mexico,  in  1827,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  convents,  besides  innumerable  parochial 
churches.  The  clergy  collected,  by  the  exaction  of  tithes,  one- 
tenth  of  the  whole  products  of  the  country.  Notwithstanding 
the  tithe  system  was  abolished  in  1833  by  the  government,  many 
of  the  devoted  adherents  of  the  church  still  submit  to  it.  It  cost 
Mexico  yearly  to  sustain  her  clergy  $8,000,000  ;  while  the  esti- 
mated value  of  church  property  was,  in  1860,  from  $250,000,000 
to  $300,000,000 — about  one-third  the  valuation  of  the  whole 
country.  In  the  city  of  Mexico  there  are  five  thousand  houses, 
valued  at  $80,000,000,  of  which  the  clergy  then  owned  one-half  at 
least.  The  income  of  the  Mexican  Church,  in  1860,  was  about 
$20,000,000.  In  1805,  they  held  $44,000,000  cash.  In  1826 
it  had  been  reduced  to  $20,000,000,  part  of  it  having  been  seized 
by  the  Spanish  government.  $40,000,000  of  mortgages  on  the 
agricultural  districts  around  Puebla  supported  the  religious  in- 
stitutions of  that  city,  which  is  still  known  as  the  most  intensely 
Catholic  in  the  country. 

The  clergy  had,  side  by  side  with  Cortez,  entered  Mexico; 
and,  having  the  light  of  the  sainted  religion  constantly  before 
his  eyes,  the  bold  conqueror  never  refused  to  exchange  the  con- 
solation of  the  holy  faith  for  the  riches  of  the  Indian.  Whether 
by  persuasion  or  the  sword,  they  were  baptized  by  thousands. 
The  clergy  never  forgot  the  injunction  of  the  Pope  to  require 
them  to  embrace  the  Catholic  religion ;  and,  if  they  were  un- 
willing, "  to  attack  them  with  fire  and  sword,  and  exterminate 
or  reduce  them  to  slavery." 


16 


•  So  scandalous  was  the-  action  of  the  secular  clergy  in  their 
intercourse  with  the  Indians,  that  Cortez  wrote  to  Charles  V.  to 
send  him  regulars  instead  of  seculars.  Said  he  : — "  The  latter 
display  extravagant  luxury,  leave  great  wealth  to  their  natural 
children,  and  give  great  scandal  to  the  newly  converted 
Indians." 

The  time  which  had  elapsed  from  the  conquest  of  Mexico  to 
the  date  of  the  revolution  of  Hidalgo,  in  1810,  had  only  enabled 
the  clergy  to  expand  their  luxurious  habits,  in  the  ratio  of  their 
constantly  increasing  wealth,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  has 
amounted  to  almost  one-half  of  the  entire  valuation  of  the 
country.  Unchecked  by  any  supreme  power,  they  had  rioted 
in  the  most  unbridled  excesses,  heedless  of  the  example  which 
they  set  to  their  proselytes,  who,  in  their  ignorance,  naturally 
followed  their  teachings.  They  contrived  to  lay  excessive 
exactions  upon  everything  which'  might  contribute  to  the  moral 
elevation  of  the  people ;  and,  after  the  civil  authorities  had 
wrung  the  last  drop  of  treasure  out  of  the  physical  nature  of 
the  Creole  and  Indian,  the  clergy  took  them,  and  in  their 
hydraulic  religious  press  squeezed  out  the  treasure  from  their 
spiritual  development.  There  are,  however,  a  few  shining  ex- 
amples of  probity  floating  in  this  sea  of  moral  debasement. 
Don  Antonio  Raya,  Bishop  of  Cuzco,  gave  in  charities  three 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  dollars  in  eight  years.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Charcas  was  held  in  high  repute  for  his  honesty  and 
virtue,  while  several  of  the  bishops  of  Peru  atoned  in  part  for 
the  misrule  of  others. 

The  Viceroy  and  his  satellites  exerted  every  effort  to  lay  the 
most  exhaustive  taxes  upon  every  article  that  might  possibly 
yield  a  revenue.  The  whole  country  was  given  up  to  the  most 
wholesale  system  of  robbery  that  the  world  ever  saw.  The 
exactions  laid  upon  the  people  naturally  begot  a  carelessness 
with  regard  to  the  future,  wherein  they  could  only  accumulate 
treasure  to  pour  into  the  coffers  of  their  masters,  who  wielded 
it  both  for  their  physical  and  mental  oppression.  In  Mexico 
many  a  wealthy  Creole,  to  prevent  the  loss  of  his  property  by 
the  Inquisition,  gave  immense  sums  to  the  holy  orders.  *The 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feast  days  of  the  year  did  not 
leave  the  poor  Indian  time  enough  to  earn  the  enormous  mar- 
riage fee,  of  from  fourteen  to  sixteen  dollars,  which  was  exacted 
from  him  for  the  performance  of  such  a  service  by  the  clergy. 
The  result  was  that  marriage  was  the  exception,  not  the  rule. 
It  very  naturally  inaugurated  a  wholesale  system  of  concubin- 
age, in  which  the  clergy  were  the  principal  actors.  Every  social 
or  family  tie  appeared  to  be  broken,  or,  at  the  date  of  the  revo- 
lution, had  disappeared  in  the  mad  vortex  of  political  and  re- 


17 

ligious  immorality,  which,  like  a  deluge,  had  swept  over  the 
land.  The  most  brutal  passions  were  uppermost  in  the  Mexican 
mind.  Three  great  castes — Spaniards,  Creoles,  and  Indians — 
had  been  established  at  the  occupation  of  the  country,  and  these 
had,  year  after  year,  taken  more  marked  features,  until  the  woes 
of  the  two  latter  were  finally  forced  to  coalesce  and  form  a  com- 
panionship in  misery.  The  Creoles  had,  at  the  date  of  the 
revolution,  been  ground  down  in  proportion  to  the  jealousy 
which  their  constantly  increasing  numbers  had  excited  in  the 
breasts  of  the  old  Spaniards,  who  saw,  from  the  groans  which 
their  intolerable  exactions  and  cruelties  had  forced  from  them, 
that  they  could  not  be  kept  much  longer  from  sharing  in  the 
government.  The  Europeans  had  heaped  woe  upon  misery, 
until  Spanish-America  could  no  longer  endure  it.  Petition 
after  petition  was  laid  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  ;  but,  spurned 
in  the  most  outrageous  language,  they  were  returned  unconsid- 
ered  to  the  colonists.  A  few  of  the  very  lowest  offices  in  the 
Americas  had  been  ddled  out  to  the  Creoles.  So  late  as  1785 
the  Minister  Galvez  referred  to  the  fact  that  a  few  Mexicans 
held  office  in  their  country  as  an  abuse.  Thus  was  a  wide 
breach  opened  between  the  old  Spaniard  and  his  progeny.  So 
late  as  1817  it  was  asserted,  in  a  Spanish  legislative  assembly, 
that  "  so  long  as  a  man  lived  in  Spain,  every  American  owed 
him  allegiance."  And  the  Oidor  Bataller  had  a  favorite 
maxim,  "  that  while  a  Manchego  mule  or  a  Castilian  cobbler 
remained  in  the  Peninsula,  he  had  a  right  to  govern  the 
Americas." 

The  effect  of  this  policy  upon  the  Creoles,  who,  at  the  date 
of  the  revolution  were  very  numerous,  was  most  disastrous. 
Ignorant,  though  possessing  great  natural  talent,  their  whole 
mind  had  been  so  warped  by  the  enslaving  rule  to  which  it  had 
been  subjected,  that  thought  flowed  in  its  channels  more  by 
instinct  than  by  reason,  with  minds  corrupted  by  their  mas- 
ters ;  with  the  most  disgusting  vices  engrafted  upon  their  polit- 
ical upas  tree  ;  with  the  clergy  pandering  to  every  known  vice 
of  a  corrupt  education ;  in  the  culmination  of  three  centuries 
of  the  vilest  excesses ;  with  honor  a  myth,  virtue  a  mockery, 
and  honesty  buried  deep  in  the  foul  pool  of  crime  and  horror, 
which  seemed  to  have  poured  down  upon  them  in  a  ceaseless 
torrent,  they  drank  from  this  sea  of  misery,  until  nature,  over- 
loaded, shook  itself  free  by  revolution. 

Following  the  ideas  which  were  traced  out  in  the  action  of 
the  Europeans,  the  Creoles  imbibed  the  spirit  of  their  oppressors, 
and  deemed  that  the  only  honorable  employments  were  to  be 
found  in  the  army  or  in  the  church.  In  the  latter,  it  had  been 
the  policy  of  the  royal  government  to  cherish  its  temporalities  ; 
2 


18 

and  thus  the  "  mayorazgos,"  or  rights  of  primogeniture,  fre- 
quently forced  the  younger  sons  into  the  religious  orders ;  but 
after  the  right  of  primogeniture  was  abolished,  during  the 
revolution,  the  church  became  unpopular  as  a  profession,  except 
for  the  lowest  classes.  We  shall  see,  in  the  course  of  the  Mexi- 
can revolutions,  the  results  of  this .  action,  both  in  the  military 
and  in  the  church. 

The  only  ports  from  which  the  Spanish  Americans  could 
have  communication  with  the  mother  country  were  Porto  Bello 
and  Yera  Cruz.  It  was  as  late  as  1774:  before  the  colonies  were 
allowed  to  communicate  with  each  other,  and  not  until  about 
fifty  years  before  the  revolution  that  commerce  from  any  other 
port  than  Seville,  in  Spain,  could  be  carried  on  with  the  col- 
onies. It  was  not  until  1713  that  the  ships  of  any  other  nation 
were  allowed  to  touch  at  any  Spanish  colonial  port.  Great 
Britain,  at  this  date,  in  her  contract  to  supply  slaves,  had  a 
very  slight  trading  interest  granted  to  her,  but  confined  to  the 
ships  in  which  the  slaves  were  transported.  Not  until  1764  did 
monthly  packets,  which  were  Spanish,  commence  running  to 
Havana,  Porto  Bello,  and  Buenos  Ayres ;  and  it  was  not  until 
1810  that  the  ports  of  Mexico  were  fully  opened  to  foreign 
trade.  Spain  not  only  claimed  the  exclusive  jurisdiction  of  all 
the  Spanish  Americas,  but  even  the  surrounding  oceans,  and  it 
was  these  claims  which  gave  rise  to  the  disputes  between  the 
Spanish  Crown  and  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  held  that  Spain  had 
no  right  to  the  possession  of  territory  which  she  did  not  actually 
occupy.  This  controversy,  in  connection  with  the  attempts  of 
the  Dutch  and  English  to  trade  in  New  Spain,  gave  rise  to  the 
buccaneering  expeditions  which  made  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  ring 
with  the  romantic  deeds  of  the  freebooters,  the  capture  of  richly 
freighted  Spanish  galleons,  the  plundering  of  Spanish  American 
towns,  the  sacking  of  the  richly  ornamented  cathedrals,  and 
other  riotous  deeds,  which  gradually  caused  the  buccaneers  to 
sink  into  pirates,  who  then  seized  upon  some  of  the  fairest  West 
Indian  ports,  and,  perching  their  lookout  towers  upon  the  com- 
manding points,  were  ready  at  any  moment  to  dart  out  upon 
the  rich  treasure  ships  of  Spain. 

On  the  29th  July,  1808,  in  the  midst  of  the  circling  influences 
which  the  despotic  policy  of  Spain  had  produced  in  the  colonies, 
the  news  arrived  of  the  invasion  of  the  mother  country  by  the 
troops  of  Bonaparte,  the  deposing  of  Ferdinand  VII.  on  the  5th 
ef  May,  1808,  and  the  resigning  to  Joseph  Bonaparte  of  all  the 
rights  of  the  Bourbon  family  to  the  crown  of  Spain.  It  is  ne- 
cessary to  trace  this  phase  of  Spanish  history  for  a  moment. 
Revolutionary  measures  opposing  the  French  invasion  were 
immediately  inaugurated,  and  several  juntas  were  established  in 


19 

different  parts  of  the  country  ;  these  juntas,  separately  claiming 
jurisdiction  in  the  colonies,  occasioned  the  greatest  uncertainty 
as  to  which  they  owed  allegiance :  this  naturally  assisted  in 
shaping  the  events  which  now  followed.  Finally  these  juntas 
resolved  themselves  into  the  "  Supreme  Junta  of  Seville,'"  con- 
sisting of  twenty-three  members,  mostly  of  the  nobility.  It  met 
June  6,  1808,  and  proclaimed  allegiance  to  Ferdinand  VII., 
whom  they  attested  had  been  deposed  by  the  French  army,  and 
had  been  forced  to  surrender  the  royal  rights  of  a  family  which 
were  not  in  his  power  to  surrender.  Meanwhile  Joseph  Bona- 
parte had  summoned  one  hundred  and  fifty  deputies,  ninety-two 
of  whom  assembled  and  accepted  the  constitution  which  Napo- 
leon had  prepared  for  them.  This  constitution  provided  that 
the  colonies  were  to  be  represented  in  the  general  Cortes  at 
Madrid,  and  enjoy  all  the  rights  and  privileges  of  the  mother 
country. 

From  Ferdinand  VII.  and  the  Council  of  the  Indies  orders 
were  immediately  forwarded  to  the  colonies  to  transfer  to 
France  their  allegiance.  The  emissaries  of  King  Joseph  were 
immediately  scattered  throughout  America  to  make  the  transfer 
more  certain,  and  to  receive  the  submission  of  the  country. 
The  old  Spaniards  vacillated.  Some  were  at  first  for  accepting 
the  new  order  of  things,  fearful  of  losing  their  fat  offices,  but 
an  element  had  crept  into  the  problem  which,  though  quiet  in 
its  action,  was  nevertheless  more  powerful  than  all  the  others 
combined.  It  was  for  the  interest  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  the 
New  "World  to  oppose  the  French  occupation  of  the  Americas, 
for  the  government  of  King  Joseph  had  threatened  drastic  re- 
forms in  the  Church,  which  would  militate  powerfully  against 
the  monopoly  which  the  clergy  of  the  New  World  held  over 
the  tollgates  to  heaven.  The  consequence  was  that  everywhere 
the  clergy  opposed  the  French  occupation.  M.  de  Sastenay, 
who  was  sent  to  receive  the  submission  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Rio  de  la  Plata,  was  imprisoned,  and  the  proclamation  of  King 
Joseph  was  thrown  into  the  flames. 

At  Caraccas  the  government  officials  made  every  effort  to 
turn  the  government  over  to  the  French,  who  had  heavily 
bribed  them ;  but  the  people  assembled  on  the  15th  of  July, 
1808,  and  took  an  oath  of  allegiance  to  Ferdinand  VII. 
Throughout  the  colonies  the  clergy  used  their  influence  to  in- 
struct the  lower  classes  of  people  to  support  the  cause  of  Fer- 
dinand ;  and  these  raised  immense  sums  and  forwarded  them  to 
Spain  to  aid  the  dethroned  King  in  regaining  his  crown.  Ninety 
millions  dollars  were  raised  for  this  purpose,  and  the  religious 
enthusiasm  became  so  great  that  many  colonists  crossed  the 
ocean  to  fight  in  the  ranks  of  the  revolutionists.  Bat  the  mo- 


20 

ment  had  arrived  for  which  the  Americans  had  long  hoped,  and 
though  loyal  still,  they  seized  upon  it  to  advance  their  social 
position.  Efforts  were  made  bv  the  Creoles  to  disseminate 
through  the  masses  the  idea  of  their  importance  and  the  value 
of  independence.  The  moving  force  was  the  desire  to  shake 
themselves  free  from  the  dominating  hand  of.  the  Europeans, 
but  not  to  separate  from  the  mother  country,  providing  they 
could  have  equal  rights  with  the  old  Spaniards.  The  interests 
of  the  clergy  coinciding  for  the  time,  the  moment  appeared 
most  propitious.  Loyalty  was,  however,  a  strong  element  in 
the  Creole  character,  and  it  will  be  noticed  that  they  made  every 
effort  in  favor  of  their  Sovereign  before  the  action  of  the 
"  Supreme  Junta  "  and  Cadiz  Regency  forced  them  to  declare 
their  independence  of  the  mother  country. 

The  period  which  had  elapsed  from  the  first  news  of  the 
French  invasion  of  the  Peninsula  until  1810,  was  all  quivering 
with  the  agitation  of  the  elements  which,  in  the  colonies,  had 
been  so  long  subject  to  the  control  of  the  few.  They  main- 
tained themselves  in  complete  uncertainty  as  to  their  future, 
and  the  whole  political  forces  of  the  country  being  unsettled, 
left  the  people  to  imagine  the  wildest  theories  with  respect  to 
their  future  government.  It  was  in  this  condition  that  they  re- 
ceived news  of  the  dissolution  of  the  Supreme  Junta  of  Seville, 
and  that  some  of  its  members  had  been  accused  as  traitors ; 
that  the  French  had  conquered  the  whole  of  Spain,  excepting 
Cadiz,  where  a  Regency  had  been  illegally  established  by  the 
President  of  the  defunct  Junta,  who  published  a  decree,  with- 
out date,  naming  the  five  members  who  composed  it. 

During  this  uncertain  condition  of  colonial  affairs,  the  Vice- 
roy of  Mexico,  Jose  Iturrigaray,  more  liberal  than  many  of  his 
predecessors,  had  espoused  the  popular  side  and  assisted  in  the 
formation  of  a  Colonial  Junta,  which  placed  him  at  its  head  to 
represent  the  interests  of  King  Ferdinand  during  his  captivity. 
But  the  power  of  the  old  Spaniards,  who  still  held  the  principal 
offices,  both  civil  and  military,  was  more  than  a  match  for  the 
unorganized  Creole  faction,  and  they,  therefore,  immediately 
seized  Iturrigaray  and  forwarded  him  a  prisoner  to  Seville, 
where  the  Junta  approved  the  action,  rewarded  those  who  had 
deposed  him,  and  appointed  another  Viceroy,  Vanegas,  who 
was  sent  to  assume  control  of  affairs  in  Mexico.  It  appears 
that  the  Supreme  Junta  of  Seville  not  only  claimed  full  control 
of  all  Spanish  affairs  during  its  existence,  but  endeavored  to 
assume  control  of  all  the  affairs  of  the  New  "World,  that  they 
might  obtain  sufficient  funds  to  wage  war  against  the  French 
and  drive  them  out  of  the  Peninsula.  They  were,  therefore, 
bitterly  opposed  to  the  establishment  of  provisional  govern- 


21 

ments  by  the  different  viceroyalties,  and  took  measures  by  every 
method  in  their  power  to  prevent  such  proceedings,  proclaiming 
as  rebels  all  who  engaged  in  their  organization. 

The  Eegency  which  had  been  organized  on  the  29th  of  Oc- 
tober, 1810,  decreed  a  very  democratic  constitution,  infringed 
seriously  upon  the  religious  influences  of  the  Church,  and  abol- 
ished the  Holy  Tribunal.  The  effect  of  this  upon  the  New 
World  was  to  bind  the  clergy  more  firmly  in  their  opposition  to 
the  Regency,  and  the  support  of  the  colonial  juntas,  which  gave 
more  hopes  of  a  continuance  of  religious  monopoly. 

The  old  Spaniards,  who  had  so  monopolized  colonial  offices, 
were  generally  excluded  in  the  formation  of  the  colonial  juntas. 
In  Buenos  Ayres  they  were  wholly  so ;  but  in  Chile  Spaniards 
and  Creoles  joined  in  the  general  movement  until  the  former, 
attempting  to  restore  the  old  order  of  things,  were  entirely  ex- 
cluded from  the  Junta  there  established.  The  Spaniards,  at 
first  inclined  to  espouse  the  French  cause,  found  that  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  Creole  and  church  interests,  it  was  impracticable  ; 
they,  therefore,  with  the  hope  of  continuing  their  monopolies, 
espoused  the  cause  of  the  Cadiz  Regency  wnich  threatened  to 
overthrow  all  the  colonial  juntas,  and  restore  America  to  its 
former  dependent  position.  The  native  element  had,  however, 
grown  too  powerful  to  be  treated  with  impunity  ;  the  avalanche 
of  free  thought  and  action  had  received  its  impetus,  and  was 
destined  to  roll  through  the  land  crushing  out  all  attempted 
opposition.  The  people  had  tasted  the  waters  at  the  spring 
of  power,  for  which  they  had  so  long  sighed,  and  though  the 
fountain  has  often,  from  that  day  to  this,  flowed  blood  instead 
of  water  in  its  attempts  to  free  itself  from  the  poison  of  colonial 
rule,  liberty  and  progress  are  still  the  moving  forces  of  the 
Spanish- American  mind. 

The  first  impulse  of  the  Cadiz  Regency  was  to  deal  liberally 
with  the  colonies.  On  May  17,  1810,  they  declared  them  open 
to  free  trade  in  all  articles  of  their  own  production  which  Spain 
could  not  consume.  The  merchants  of  Cadiz,  all-powerful'  in 
their  monopoly  of  the  colonial  trade,  found  means  to  have  this 
decree  revoked  one  month  after  its  issue ;  and  the  Regency 
went  back  to  the  old  system  of  trade  throughout  America.  It 
wras  too  late  to  exercise  such  a  vacillating  policy  ;  the  colonists 
had  discovered  their  rights  and  were  now  determined  to  assert 
them,  while,  from  reasons  already  mentioned,  the  clergy  sided 
with  them. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  the  revolution  in  Spain  against 
French  power  was  incited  principally  by  the  parish  priests, 
while  the  nobility  and  higher  orders  were  the  principal  adher- 
ents of  King  Joseph.  There  was  a  similar  power  existing  in 


22 

« 

America ;  the  "  Curas,"  who  were  in  immediate  contact  with 
the  lower  classes,  swayed  their  minds  in  any  desired  direction, 
and  the  lower  orders  of  the  clergy,  being^  composed  entirely  of 
Creoles  and  mixed  races,  naturally  exercised  their  influence  in 
the  direction  of  the  provisional  juntas  from  which  they  liad  so 
much  to  hope. 

Strong  in  the  belief  that  by  provisional  governments  they 
-might  be  enabled  to  hold  the  country  for  Ferdinand  YIL,  they 
established  juntas  almost  simultaneously  in  all  parts  of  the 
country  :  At  Caraccas,  19th  April ;  Buenos  Ayres,  25th  May ; 
New  Grenada,  3d  July ;  Bogota,  20th  July  ;  Carthagena,  18th 
August ;  Chile,  18th  September,  and  Mexico,  16th  September, 
1810. 

No  people  in  history  were  ever  blest  with  a  more  favorable 
opportunity  to  free  themselves  from  the  crushing  despotism  that 
weighed  upon  them  than  were  the  Spanish- Americans.  Their 
whole  country  contained  but  very  few  Spanish  troops.  In  fact 
so  convinced  was  the  mother  country  of  the  loyalty  of  the  col- 
onies that  immense  districts  had  been  guarded  with  but  the 
shadow  of  an  army.  . 

When  the  Regency  received  news  of  the  formation  of  colo- 
nial juntas,  they  were  animated  with  the  utmost  fury  against 
the  colonists.  They  immediately  dispatched  a  royal  commis- 
sioner to  Venezuela',  who  was  "  to  assume  the  regal  power  to  its 
fullest  extent ;  to  remove,  suspend,  or  dismiss  the  authorities  of 
every  rank  and  class ;  to  pardon  or  punish  the  guilty  at  plea- 
sure ;  to  use  the  moneys  belonging  to  the  royal  treasury,"  &c. 
The  Junta  of  Caraccas  refused  to  receive  him.  Venezuela  was 
then  declared  in  a  state  of  blockade,  although  there  was  not  a 
ship  to  enforce  the  decree. 

With  money  which  the  colonists  had  furnished  the  Regency 
to  uphold  the  cause  of  Ferdinand  VII.,  an  expedition  was  im- 
mediately organized  and  sent  to  Venezuela.  The  whole  pro- 
ceedings of  the  colonies  were  declared  revolutionary,  and  in- 
structions were  given  to  the  Spanish  forces  to  devastate  the 
country  with  fire  and  sword.  So  thoroughly  were  the  orders 
carried  out  that  they  often  murdered  their  own  brothers  and 
relatives  whom  they  ibuiid  among  the  insurgents.  General 
Calleja  in  a  dispatch  informs  the  Viceroy  that,  after  losing  one 
man  killed  and  two  wounded,  he  put  nve  thousand  betrayed 
Indians  to  the  sword,  and  that  the  total  Indian  loss  was  double 
that  number.  Most  of  them  were  killed  while  on  their  knees 
begging  for  mercy. 

Caraccas  capitulated  to  the  Spaniards  under  General  Monte- 
verde,  July  25th,  1812.  It  had  been  conceded  that  life  and 
property  should  be  held  sacred.  An  English  naval  commander 


on  that  station  thus  describes  how  that  treaty  was  kept: — 
"  Monte verde  caused  to  be  arrested  nearly  every  Creole  of  ranlf 
throughout  the  country,  chained  them  in  pairs,  and  had  thenj 
conducted  to  the  prisons  of  Laguayra  and  Porto  Cabello,  wherd 
many  perished  from  suffocation  and  disease."  The  same  officer- 
states  that  Boves  and  Rosette,  royalist  officers,  in  traversing  the 
route  from  the  river  Orinoco  to  the  valley  of  Caraccas,  more 
than  four  hundred  miles,  left  no  human  being  alive  of  any  age 
or  sex,  except  auch  as  joined  their  standard. 

Upon  the  restoration  of  Ferdinand  to  the  throne,  through 
the  efforts  of  the  English  and  the  defeat  of  the  plans  of  Bona- 
parte throughout  Europe,  he  threw  himself  into  the  hands  of 
the  most  bigoted  and  fanatical  of  the  reactionary  party,  and 
refused  to  uphold  the  liberal  constitution  to  which  the  Cortes 
had  taken  oath  in  March,  1812,  and  in  which  the  colonies  were 
placed  upon  a  footing  with  the  mother  country,  being  entitled 
to  one  representative  for  every  seventy  thousand  inhabitants. 
He  immediately  declared  the  colonies  to  be  in  a  state  of  mutiny, 
refused  to  listen  to  any  representations  from  them,  but  offered 
to  them  unconditional  pardon.  The  Viceroys  and  all  their 
acts  were  confirmed  ;  the  colonists  were  censured  for  presuming 
to  frame  a  government  for  themselves,  and  active  measures 
were  taken  to  return  to  the  old  system  under  which  they  had 
so  long  groaned.  Large  reinforcements  were  dispatched  to 
America,  and  in  the  name  of  Ferdinand  de  Bourbon  the  whole 
land  was  made  desolate.  Morillo,  in  1816,  entered  Bogota,  and 
wrote  to  Spain  that  "  by  cutting  off  all  who  could  read  and 
write  he  hoped  effectually  to  arrest  the  spirit  of  revolution." 
Six  hundred  of  the  first  people  of  the  city  were  hanged  or  shot 
in  cold  blood.  A  liberal  policy  in  the  royal  council  would  have 
immediately  restored  the  colonies  to  Spain,  but  this  course  was 
only  widening  the  breach. 

Great  Britain  interposed  her  good  offices  to  mediate  between 
the  colonists  and  the  mother  country,  but  fruitlessly.  Scaffolds 
were  erected  on  all  sides  ;  the  sword  found  wild  work ;  xthe 
sanguinary  tide  of  Spanish  vengeance  had  been  loosed,  and 
threatened  to  inundate  the  whole  country.  It  was  in  the  midst 
of  these  wild  throes  that  Spanish-American  independence  was 
to  be  born,  and  it  was  from  ttyese  horrors  they  were  to  consoli- 
date their  nationalities  by  fifty  years  of  subsequent  revolutions, 
which  were  the  results  of  the  curses  thus  entailed  upon  them. 
The  colonists  had  poured  out  their  blood  and  treasure  to  restore 
Ferdinand  to  his  throne,  and  he  now  rewarded  them  with  chains 
and  massacre.  But  the  revolution  in  the  Creole  mind  had  pro- 
gressed too  far,  and  Spain  had  no  power  to  again  enchain  com- 
pletely the  mind  which  had  caught  sight  of  freedom. 


24 

To  relate  the  condition  of  one  section  is  to  recount  the 
horrors  of  all.  The  Congress  of  the  La  Plata,  in  their  address  to 
the  nations  of  the  earth,  which  was  more  like  the  "Groans  of 
the  .Britons  "  for  protection  from  the  savages,  said  : — "  The 
Spanish  Ministers  issued  vigorous  orders  to  all  their  generals  to 
push  the  war  and  to  inflict  neavier  punishments.'  *  *  * 
"  From  that  moment  they  endeavored  to  divide  us  by  all  the 
means  in  their  power,  in  order  that  we  might  exterminate  each 
other.  They  propagated  against  us  atrocious  calumnies,  attrib- 
uting to  us  the  design  of  destroying  our  sacred  religion,  of  set- 
ting aside  all  morality  and  establishing  licentiousness  of  man- 
ners. They  carried  on  a  war  of  religion  against  us,  devising 
many  and  various  plots  to  agitate  and  alarm  the  consciences  of 
the  people — by  causing  the  Spanish  bishops  to  issue  edicts  of 
ecclesiastical  censure  and  interdiction  among  the  faithful ;  to 
publish  excommunications,  and,  by  means  of  some  ignorant 
confessors,  to  sow  fanatical  doctrines  in  the  tribunal  of  penance. 
T3y  the  aid  of  such  religious  discords  they  have  sown  dissensions 
in  families,  produced  quarrels  between  parents  and  their  child- 
ren, torn  asunder  the  bonds  which  united  man  and  wife,  scat- 
tered implacable  enmity  and  rancor  among  brothers  formerly 
the  most  affectionate,  and  even  placed  nature  herself  in  a  state 
of  hostility  and  variance."  *  *  *  "  They  have  shot  the 
bearers  of  our  flags  of  truce."  *  *  *  "They  have  shot 
many  in  cold  blood  after  they  have  surrendered."  *  *  * 
"  In  the  town  of  Yalle-Grande  they  enjoyed  the  brutal  pleasure 
of  cutting  off  the  ears  of  the  inhabitants,  and  sent  off  a  basket 
filled  with  these  presents  to  their  headquarters.  They  after- 
ward burned  the  town,  set  fire  to  thirty  other  populous  ones  in 
Peru,  and  took  delight  in  shutting  up  persons  in  their  own 
houses,  before  the  flames  were  applied  to  them,  in  order  that 
they  might  there  be  burned  to  death."  *  *  *  "  They  have 
divested  themselves  of  all  morality  and  public  decency  by 
whipping  old  religious  persons  in  the  open  squares,  and  also 
women  bound  to  a  cannon,  causing  them  previously  to  be 
stripped  and  exposed  to  shame  and  derision."  "They  have 
plundered  our  coasts,  butchered  their  defenceless  inhabitants, 
even  without  sparing  superannuated  priests  ;  and,  by  orders  of 
General  Pezuela,  they  burned  the  church  of  the  town  of  Puna, 
and  put  to  the  sword  old  men,  women  and  children,  the  only 
inhabitants  therein  found.  They  have  in  a  most  shameful 
manner  failed  to  fulfill  every  capitulation  we  have,  on  repeated 
occasions,  concluded  with  them. 

The  Cortes  of  Spain  decreed,  April  10,  1813,  "  That  it  was 
derogatory  to  the  majesty  and  dignity  of  the  national  Congress 
to  confirm  a  capitulation  made  with  malignant  insurgents." 


25 

This  was  to  annul  the  capitulation  of  Miranda,  in  Venezuela, 
in  1812. 

Such  was  the  rule  of  Ferdinand  from  Northern  Mexico  to 
the  La  Plata.  The  result  was  that  Spanish-America  found  no 
opening  for  herself  except  to  press  onward  and  resist  the  power 
that  would  again  enslave  her,  and  they  therefore  made  mighty 
efforts  in  the  cause  of  liberty.  Our  efforts  in  the  United  States 
during  the  War  of  Independence  pale  before  those  of  the  Span- 
ish-American States  to  shake  off  the  curse  which  weighed  so 
heavily  on  every  hope.  Linked  in  a  common  cause  and  ani- 
mated by  a  common  misfortune,  their  efforts  were  not  confined 
to  their  own  States ;  they  marched  their  armies  from  Buenos 
Ayres,  under  the  heroic  San  Martin,  to  Chile ;  from  Chile  to 
Peru,  over  the  deserts  of  Atacama;  through  the  mountain 
paths  of  the  Andes,  trailing  their  worn  forces  through  the 
mountain  torrents,  or  lying  down  to  sleep  upon  the  frozen  snows 
of  the  Cordilleras.  Their  armies  fought  and  bled  as  heroically 
as  ever  patriot  could  dream  until  the  battle  of  Ayacucho  vir- 
tually closed  the  contest. 

As  before  stated,  the  events  that  we  have  detailed  had  a 
general  bearing  throughout  Spanish  America.  The  crushing 
policy  of  Spain  was  applied  to  every  foot  'of  territory  which  she 
held  on  the  "Western  Continent.  In  Mexico  the  problem  of 
liberty  was,  however,  of  more  difficult  solution  even  than  in 
South  America,  for  reasons  we  shall  now  state. 


26 


PAKT  III. 

REVOLUTION  or  HIDALGO — CONVENING  or  A  MEXICAN  CON- 
GRESS— CHANGE  IN  THE  POLICY  or  THE  CLERGY — THEY 
ESPOUSE  THE  INSURGENT  CAUSE — "PLAN  OF  IGUALA" — 
CONFLICT  OF  PARTY  INTERESTS  —  ITURBIDE  PROCLAIMED 
EMPEROR — MEXICO  UNDER  REPUBLICAN  INSTITUTIONS — A 
REVOLUTIONARY  PERIOD — ONLY  THREE  SYSTEMS  OF  GOV- 
ERNMENT— REVIEW  OF  THE  SITUATION  OF  SPANISH  AMERICA 

PRIOR   TO   THE    FRENCH    INVASION — THE    UPWARD    STRUGGLE 

OF  THE  COLONIES — MEXICO  DURING  THIS  PERIOD  TO  THE 
REVOLUTION  OF  AYUTLA — ALVAREZ  AND  COMONFORT'S  AD- 
MINISTRATIONS— ATTEMPTS,  UNDER  SANTA  ANNA,  TO  ESTAB- 
LISH A  MONARCHY — ASSEMBLY  OF  A  NATIONAL  CONGRESS — 
SWEARING  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  1857 — COMONFORT 
DESERTS  THE  CAUSE — SIEGE  OF  THE  CAPITAL — THE  "LAW 


On  the  10th  of  September,  1810,  an  uprising  of  the  Indians 
and  mixed  races  took  place.  It  was  called  the  revolution  of 
Jlidalgo.*  It  caused  a  variation  in  the  Mexican  revolution 
against  Spain,  which'made  an  essential  difference  as  to  the  time 
required  by  Mexico  to  free  herself  from  the  miseries  with  which 
Spanish  rule  environed  her.  The  revolution  of  Hidalgo  was 
essentially  an  outbreak  against  the  oppression  which  had  borne 
heavily  upon  the  Indians  and  mixed  races.  '  The  civil  commo- 
tions in  Spain  h,ad  so  disturbed  the  rule  of  the  Viceroys  that 
the  Indian  element  had  easily  observed  its  importance  in  solv- 
ing the  problem  of  future  government.  It  was  thus  easy  to 
incite  them  to  insurrection.  Hidalgo,  a  "cura,"  moved  by 
public  and  private  wrongs,  headed  the  uprising,  and  organized 
a  force  of  100,000  Indians  and  mixed  races.  The  whole  success 
of  the  movement  depended  upon  the  Creoles,  who  then  formed 
a  large  part  of  all  the  regular  forces  of  the  royalists.  Had 
they  sided  with  the  Indians,  the  revolution  would  have  been 
successful  and  the  country  freed  from  Spanish  tyranny.  Unfor- 
tunately for  the  Indian  cause,  the  first  body  of  insurgents  fired 
into  the  Creole  troops,  and  commenced  in  the  towns  an  indis- 
criminate massacre  of  both  Spaniards  and  Creoles.  This  united 
the  two  latter  for  mutual  defence,  and  for  a  time  the  most  ruth- 

*  Hidalgo  was  a  Creole  of  extraordinary  natural  and  acquired  talent.  The 
great  uprising  of  the  mixed  races  which  he  organized  was  to  break  forth  Novem- 
ber 1,  1810,  but  was,  by  the  betrayal  of  the  cause,  precipitated,  and  commenced 
prematurely  on  the  date  we  have  mentioned. 


27 

less  barbarities  were  committed.  The  Church  opposed  the 
insurgents,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico  excommunicated 
their  whole  force  in  a  body.* 

At  Guanaxuato,  which  Hidalgo  stormed  and  sacked,  the 
most  terrible  retribution  was  taken  upon  their  oppressors,  and 
for  a  time  it  appeared  that  the  entire  pure  European  blood 
would  be  forced  from  the  country.  Had  the  insurgents  been 
properly  commanded,  there  is  no  doubt  but  they  might  have 
swept  every  European  from  Mexico ;  this,  with  a  lack  of  the 
necessary  material  of  war,  rendered  it  comparatively  easy  for 
the  regular  forces  to  overthrow  them. 

This  terrible  war  of  caste  was  waged  with  savage  ferocity 
on  both  sides.  General  Calleja  met  the  insurgents  and  defeated 
them  at  Guanaxuato,  where  he  put  fourteen  thousand  men, 
women,  and  children  to  the  sword ;  for  which  he  was  created 
"Mariscal  de  Campo  "  for  distinguished  services,  decorated  with 
the  Cross  of  the  Order  of  Charles  III.,  and  appointed  to  the 
vice-royalty.  Hidalgo,  through  the  treachery  of  Bustamente, 
was  captured  and  shot  July  11,  1811.  The  insurgents,  how- 
ever, continued  the  revolution  under  General  Morelos,  formerly 
the  lieutenant  of  Hidalgo,  who  called  a  National  Congress, 
which  met  September  13,  1813,  and  on  the  following  October 
declared  Mexico  independent.  This  Congress  promulgated  the 
"  Constitution  Apatzingan  "  October  22,  1814. 

Gradually  the  Creoles  began  to  take  sides  with  the  insur- 
gents, and  very  many  valuable  officers  were  added  to  their 
ranks  by  the  desertions  from  the  royalist  forces ;  but  it  was  not 
until  1820  that  any  considerable  movement  took  place  among 
the  Creole  forces  in  aid  of  the  revolutionists.  Gen.  Morelos 
proclaimed  that  "  despots  and  bad  government,  not  Hidalgo, 
were  the  real  cause  of  the  insurrection,"  and  the  Congress 
appealed  to  the  Creoles  to  join  them  in  their  struggle  against 
the  oppression  of  the  dominant  class,  to  join  hands  with  them 
and  overthrow  their  power.  "  Brethren,"  said  they,  "  let  us 
embrace  and  be  happy,  instead  of  mutually  bringing  disgrace 
upon  our  heads."  If  they  could  not  have  peace,  they  desired 
to  carry  on  the  war  in  a  civilized  manner.  In  article  five  of 

*  This  was  a  similar  uprising  to  that  of  Don  Jos6  Gabriel  in  Peru  in  1780; 
He  was  a  descendant  of  the  Inca,  Tupac  Amaru,  who  was  beheaded  in  1562  by 
Francisco  de  Toledo.  The  Indians,  having  endured  the  most  terrible  oppression, 
were  roused  to  revenge  themselves  upon  their  tyrants.  Undisciplined,  without 
munitions  of  war,  but  full  of  the  courage  of  despair,  they  for  a  long  time  waged 
a  desperate  war  against  both  Spaniard  and  Creole.  With  desperate  valor,  both 
men  and  women  fought  until  Gabriel  was  made  prisoner.  As  a  punishment,  "he 
beheld  the  execution  of  his  wife  and  children,  and  many  of  his  faithful  followers ; 
his  tongue  was  then  cut  out,  and  wild  horses  harnessed  to  his  legs  and  arms  tore 
his  limbs  asunder." 


28 


the  conditions  in 


ditions  upon  which  they  would  have  peace  or  carry  011 
the  war,  they  said  :  "  It  is  contrary  to  the  rights  of  war,  as  well 
/  as  those  of  nature,  to  enter  with  fire  and  sword  into  defenceless 
/  towns,  or  to  assign  by  tenths  and  fifths  persons  to  be  shot,  by 
•/   which  the  innocent  are  confounded  with  the  guilty ;   let  no  one 
|    be  allowed,  under  the  severest  penalties,  to  commit  such  enor- 
mities as  those  which  so  greatly  dishonor  a  Christian  and  civil- 
'•    ized  people."    They  also  urged  the  clergy  to  abstain  from  calling 
it  a  war  against  the  Catholic  religion. 

The  war,  after  the  reception  of  this  message,  was  waged  by 
Calleja  with  relentless  fury.  Almost  every  insurgent  who  fell 
into  his  hands  was  sacrificed.  The  insurgents  were  forced  to 
retaliate ;  and,  for  a  time,  Mexico  was  a  perfect  pandemonium. 
Circumstances  were,  however,  fast  inducing  the  Mexican 
clergy  to  throw  their  influence  into  the  scale  with  the  insurgents. 
The  revolutionary  troubles  which  immediately  followed  the  res- 
toration of  Ferdinand  VII.  in  Spain,  had  shown  the  Church 
that  it  had  little  to  hope  from  the  mother  country  for  a  contin- 
uance of  its  monopolies.  The  blind  infatuation  of  Ferdinand, 
in  waging  war  upon  the  colonies  immediately  upon  his  restor- 
ation to  power,  had  prevented  entirely  any  lull  in  the  stormy 
commotion  wherein  the  colonies  might  explain  more  fully  the 
-causes  which  had  impelled  them  to  the  course  they  had  pursued 
during  the  French  occupation  of  the  Peninsula.  The  clergy, 
seeing  in  the  liberal  constitution  of  the  Cortes  nothing  but  the 
downfall  of  the  Mexican  church  system,  aided  in  the  estrange- 
ment of  the  colonies,  and  urged  onward  the  policy  of  complete 
independence,  unless  the  signs  in  Spain  might  become  more 
favorable  to  their  interests. 

The  Cortes  had,  in  the  liberal  constitution  sworn  to  by  them, 
declared  the  Inquisition  abolished,  and  effected  numerous 
church  reforms,  while  all  ecclesiastical  positions  were  placed 
under  their  control,  and  decrees  promulgated  against  church 
property.  This  was  a  direct  and  staggering  blow  to  the  Mex- 
ican clergy,  unless  they  could  escape  its  effects  by  freeing  the 
colony  from  the  mother  country.  The  constitution  to  which 
the  Cortes  had  sworn  was  held  in  abeyance  by  the  revolutionary 
condition  of  the  country,  and  the  opposition  of  Ferdinand, 
until  March,  1820.  At  that  time,  the  Cortes  being  reinstated,  the 
free  constitution  was  proclaimed  and  sworn  to  by  the  king,  who 
was  forced  to  follow  a  popular  will  which  he  could  not  control. 
So  long  as  Ferdinand  had  opposed  the  popular  liberal  party 
in  Spain,  the  Mexican  clergy  clung  to  his  cause  with  the  hope 
of  a  reaction  to  the  old  system ;  but  when  the  news  reached 
them  of  his  adoption  of  the  Jiberal  constitution,  they  immedi- 
ately threw  their  whole  influence  into  the  cause  of  the  insur- 


29 

gents  in  an  attempt  to  establish  a  separate  government,  with 
the  idea  of  inviting  the  bigoted  Ferdinand  to  cross  the  Atlantic 
and  accept  the  crown.  At  this  time  Augustin  Irturbide  came 
prominently  into  notice.  Although  a  Creole  he  had  entirely 
adhered  to  the  church,  and  had  thus  figured  in  various  subordi- 
nate positions.  In  command  of  a  small  detachment  of  the 
rayalist  forces  he  had  carried  on  an  unsparing  warfare  against 
the  insurgents.  As  an  instance  of  his  cruelty,  he  states  in  a 
dispatch  to  the  Viceroy,  in  1814,  that  "  in  honor  of  the  day," 
Good  Friday,  "  he  had  just  ordered  three  hundred  excommuni- 
cated wretches  to  be  shot."  Upon  the  clergy  changing  sides, 
Iturbide,  under  their  direction,  while  in  command  of  a  small 
force  on  the  western  coast,  in  1820,  espoused  the  insurgent 
cause,  headed  the  forces  that  flocked  to  his  standard,  and 
marched  on  the  Mexican  capital.  At  the  small  town  of  Iguala, 
he  proclaimed  the  "  Plan  of  Iguala,"  or  the  "  Constitution  of  the 
Three  Guarantees."  The  movement  was  entirely  successful, 
as  most  all  the  movements  for  the  overthrow  of  any  established 
government  have  been  in  Mexico  when  the  clergy  have  directed 
the  revolutionists.  The  City  of  Mexico  was  occupied  by  Itur- 
bide on  the  27th  of  September,  1821.  Nearly  the  whole  coun- 
try, under  the  influence  of  the  clergy,  sent  in  its  allegiance. 
The  newly  appointed  constitutional  Viceroy  (O'Donoju)  'at  that 
moment  arrived  to  assume  the  reins  of  government.  He  was 
forced  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of  the  country ;  and, 
in  conformity  with  the  plan  of  Iguala,  endorse  the  right  which 
it  gave  to  the  house  of  JBourbon  to  the  throne  of  Mexico. 

The  "  plan  of  Iguala,"  declared  on  the  24th  of  February, 
1821,  breathed  progress  and  liberal  government,  but  contained 
one  element  which  was  more  potent  than  all  the  others  com- 
bined, and  indicated,  not  only  the  secret  control  which  the 
church  possessed  in  the  revolutionary  movement  of  the  country, 
but  its  determination  to  carry  its  power  into  every  department 
of  state,  and  to  virtually  rule  the  country.  The  plan  of  Igu- 
ala stated : 

First. — The  Mexican  nation  is  independent  of  the  Spanish 
nation  and  of  every  other,  even  on  its  own  continent. 

Second. — Its  religion  shall  be  the  Catholic,  which  all  its  in- 
habitants profess. 

Third. — They  shall  be  all  united,  without  any  distinction 
between  American  and  Europeans. 

*  ***** 

"Eighth—  His  Majesty  Ferdinand  VII.  shall  be  invited  to 
the  throne  of  the  empire,  and,  in  case  of  his  refusal,  the  Infantes 
Don  Carlos  and  Don  Francisco  de  Paula." 


30 


Twelfth. — An  army  shall  be  formed  for  the  support  of 
religion,  independence",  and  union,  guaranteeing  these  three 
principles,  and  therefore  it  shall  be  called  the  army  of  the 
"Three  Guarantees." 

So  soon  as  the  army  which  bore  these  principles  upon  their 
banners  had  entered  the  capital,  a  junta  was  established,  of 
V^which  Irturbide  was  proclaimed  President. 

The  country  breathed  a  moment  after  its  long  struggle  of 
eleven  years  of  internecine  strife,  which  had  finally  culminated 
in  independence  and  the  establishing  of  a  junta  free  from 
foreign  control. 

Thus  the  clergy,  the  Creoles,  and  the  Indian  and  mixed 
races,  had  banded  their  interests  and  reached  the  first  point  in 
the  problem  of  Mexican  freedom.  But  the  moment  was  preg- 
nant with  an  intense  and  fresh  mental  activity ;  one  step  reached, 
another,  perforce,  must  be  taken,  and  they  immediately  divided 
into  three  parties. 

The  republicans  wanted  a  central  or  federal  republic,  and 
they  opposed  the  military  power,  whom  they  accused  of  a  desire 
to  usurp  all  authority,  which  properly  belonged  to  the  whole 
people.  The  Bourbonists  adhered  to  the  idea  of  inviting 
Ferdinand  to  the  throne ;  and,  being  very  strongly  supported 
by  the  clergy,  were  really  the  dominant  party.  The  third  party 
which  sprang  up  was  the  Iturbidists,  who  desired  to  place  their 
favorite  upon  the  throne  which  the  plan  of  Iguala  had  reserved 
for  Ferdinand  de  Bourbon.  A  larger  part  of  the  military, 
having  followed  Irturbide  in  his  successes,  were  in  favor  of  the 
latter  movement.  The  adherents  of  Irturbide  did  not,  however, 
feel  themselves  sufficiently  strong  to  attempt  this  movement 
while  the  clergy  favored  the  Bourbonists.  Thus  the  growing 
interests  of  the  different  parties  daily  made  a  wider  gap  between 
them,  and  daily  pointed  to  the  necessity  for  some  strong  hand 
to  turn  the  powerful  revolutionary  elements  into  a  peaceful 
channel.  In  this  condition  of  affairs,  news  arrived  from  Spain 
that  the  Cortes  had  refused  to  ratify  the  treaty  of  Cordova, 
which  the  Viceroy  O'Donoju  had  signed  with  Irturbide.  It 
was  thus  rendered  impossible  for  any  Spanish  Bourbon  to  ascend 
the  throne. 

In  the  uncertain  position  in  which  the  Bourbonists  now 
found  themselve  thev  were  unprepared  to  oppose  the  rapid 
action  of  the  Irturbidists,  who  now  proclaimed  Irturbide  Empe- 
ror, under  title  of  Augustin  I.,  and  forced  Congress  to  ratify 
the  usurpation.  Immense  sums  were  voted  to  maintain  the 


31 

royal  dignity,  a  large  army  drained  the  resources  of  the  people, 
and  the  Emperor,  waiving  all  constitutional  considerations, 
made  himself  virtually  dictator.  His  reign  was,  however,  a 
very  short  one ;  the  federal  party  had  grown  formidable,  and 
pandering  more  essentially  to  the  interests  of  the  church,  issued 
a  "  pronunciamiento  "  which  roused  the  country,  won  over  a 
large  part  of  the  army,  and  resulted,  through  Generals  Victoria 
and  Santa  Anna — the  latter  of  whom  here  first  appears  upon 
the  stormy  waves  of  Mexican  politics — in  the  establishment  of 
a  representative  Congress,  in  August,  1823,  the  adoption  of  a 
federal  constitution  in  1824,  and  the  appointment  of  General 
Victoria  as  first  President  of  the  republic. 

This  was  the  first  thoroughly  considered  and  well  digested 
constitution  which  Mexico  had.  It  was,  moreover,  acknowl- 
edged by  the  whole  country,  while  that  of  October  14,  1814, 
was  only  adopted  by  the  section  under  control  of  the  insurgent 
forces  commanded  by  Morelos.  The  more  perfect  and  demo- 
cratic republican  constitution  of  1857  was  to  grow  from  the 
seeds  here  planted  in  1824. 

The  Mexican  Church  was  in  trouble.  The  elements  of 
republicanism,  following  rapidly  upon  the  heels  of  freedom 
from  Spanish  oppression,  had  crept  into  the  worn  frame  of  co- 
lonial misrule,  and  the  intellect  of  the  Creoles,  expanding  with 
the  new  lights  of  education  and  advancement,  forced  the  clergy 
to  direct  the  storm  they  could  not  .breast. 

The  new  constitution,  however,  still  clung  closely  to  that 
curse  upon  the  body  politic  which  has  been  so  fruitful  in  revo- 
lutionary throes.  It  provided,  in  Article  50,  for  a  concordat 
with  the  Holy  See,  which  was  to  throw  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
Mexican  Church  management  into  the  hands  of  the  Roman 
pontiff.  The  clergy  figured  to  exempt  themselves  entirely  from 
any  chance  of  government  control  over  their  property  and 
monopolies.  The  old  shadow  of  caste  crept  into  it ;  the  secular 
and  parochial  clergy  were  confined  to  the  lower  offices,  such  as 
parish  priests.  All  the  bishoprics,  deaneries,  and  chapters  could 
only  be  filled  by  old  Spaniards.  It  will  be  remembered  that 
the  lower  orders  of  church  offices  had  been  the  only  ones  during 
colonial  rule  to  which  the  Creoles  and  mixed  races  were  eligible. 
Thus  the  old  feeling  of  caste  still  shook  its  head  above  the  soil 
of  Mexico,  and,  united  with  the  clergy,  cursed  the  land  it  had 
already  desolated. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  run  through  the  long  list  of  revolutions 
which  have  torn  Mexico  in  her  struggles  to  free  herself  from 
her  inherited  miseries.  The  numbers  of  presidents  and  dictators 
who  have  followed  each  other  in  rapid  succession,  shows  what 
a  terrible  struggle  and  fratricidal  strife  has  been  going  on  at 


32 

our  very  doors  for  nearly  a  half  century  Irom  the  date  of  the 
revolution  of  independence. 

But  in  mentioning  these  numerous  changes,  it  must  not  be 
supposed  that  there  were  as  many  parties  sustaining  different 
principles  :  there  were  never  more  than  three ;  and  the  whole 

,  country  became  at  last  swallowed  up  in  the  two  great  ones — the 
Church,  with  its  reactionary  system  ;  and  the  Liberals,  who  op- 

,  posed  it  with  reforms  and  innovations.     The  latter,  as  we  shall 

1  see,  finally  triumphed,  when,  in  185Y,  the  constitution  which 
they  promulgated  became  the  organic  law  of  the  land.  It  was 
the  shock  of  the  contending  forces  of  these  parties  which  threw 

-  the  presidential  power  first  into  the  hands  of  one,  then  of  the 
other;  making  the  numerous  changes  in  power,  which  have 
heretofore  been  erroneously  considered  as  the  result  of  constantly 
changing  political  principles.  The  three  classes  of  government 
which  have  in  turn  ruled  Mexico  since  her  Spanish  war  of  in- 
dependence, are  the  empire,  the  republican  federal  constitution 
of  1824,  the  centralized  military  dictatorships,  and  the  return 
in  1857  to  the  reconstituted  federal  republican  government, 
under  the  Liberals  who  had  so  many  years  been  advocating  it 
with  sword  and  pen.  Since  that  date  there  has  been  another 
period  of  centralized  militarv  dictatorships,  under  Zuloa'ga  and 
Miramon ;  a  return  again  01  constitutional  government,  under 
Juarez  ;  and  latterly,  the  attempted  usurpation  of  the  govern- 
ment by  the  French,  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  the  imperial 
rule  of  Maximilian. 

When  the  viceroyalties  of  America  severed  the  ties  which 
had  bound  them  to  the  iron  embrace  of  Spain,  they  found  them- 
selves exposed  to  the  wildest  theories  of  government.  It  had 
been  less  than  a  half  century  since  they  had  been  allowed  inter- 
nal communication  with  each  other/  We  have  seen  that  the 
only  political  education  they  had  received  was  the  history  of 
Spain,  which  had  for  centuries  shaped  its  laws  under  the  shadow 
of  the  inquisition.  The  vast  influence  of  the  Jesuits  and  other 
orders  of  the  Romish  clergy,  all  tended  to  the  formation  of 
governments  in  the  New  World  which  might  crush  out  every 
spark  of  information  which  had  not  passed  the  censorship  of 
the  church.  The  religious  bigotry  of  Spain,  which  we  have 
seen  educating  itself  in  eight  nundred  years  of  Moorish  war- 
fare, had  spread  its  full  force  over  the  colonies,  and  repelled 
every  ray  of  civilization  which  attempted  to  penetrate  the 
universal  gloom. 

When  communication  with  the  Spanish-Americans  was 
opened,  during  their  war  of  independence,  the  people  looked 
across  the  Atlantic  for  instruction  in  government,  and  they 
saw — chaos  !  "  Should  they  be  republics  ? — the  French  repub- 


33 

lie  of  1793  had  fallen.  Should  they  be  monarchies  ? — one  of 
the  kings  of  Spain  was  an  imbecile,  the  other  was  a  captive. 
Should  they  be  empires? — the  great  emperor,  as  a  warning, 
was  bound  to  the  rock  of  St.  Helena." 

To  the  northward  they  saw  the  rising  glory  of  the  great 
republic,  its  wonderful -advancement,  its  power,  and  peace.  No 
internecine  strife  resounded  through  its  valleys  and  covered  its 
people  with  the  symbols  of  mourning.  They  are  happy  !  why 
may  we  not  be  "happy  under  a  similar  form  of  government? 
Henceforth  the  United  States  became  their  solar  centre ;  they 
drank  in  its  brightest  rays,  and  fashioned  their  constitutional 
governments  upon  the  model  of  their  great  luminary.  The 
material  with  which  they  had  to  deal  was  crude ;  it  had  scarcely 
reached  the  eocene  period  of  political  stability.  The  revolu- 
tionary vista  loomed  up  darkly  before  them ;  but  they  bravely 
grappled  with  the  problem,  and,  with  herculean  efforts,  hurled 
the  States  into  the  planes  of  their  orbits.  They  had  baptized 
their  advent  into  new  life  with  the  blood  of  their  bravest  sons ; 
they  could  have  established  different  and  temporarily  stable 
governments,  which  would  have  given  them  rest  for  the  moment, 
but  their  bold  leaders  resolved  every  malign  element  into  the 
one  great  crucible,  and,  unsheathing  their  swords,  exclaimed, 
"  Here  is  the  problem — we  will  kindle  the  fires  of  revolution 
over  eighty  degrees  of  latitude,  but  we  will  melt  down  these " 
elements  which  curse  us,  and  although  we  may  not  know  the 
exact  date  of  our  regeneration,  we  do  know  that  the  exponent 
of  that  unknown  quantity  is  liberty,  and  that  we  constantly 
approach  it." 

The  States  thrown  into  the  planes  of  their  revolutionry 
orbits  were  in  their  courses  most  erratic.  The  sunshine  of  free- 
dom struck  upon  a  race  which  had  been  illy  prepared  to  receive 
its  rays.  There  were  elements  in  their  organization  which  had 
driven  Europe  into  the  most  exhaustive  wars  of  the  sixteenth 
century ;  battled  out  of  Europe,  these  elements  had  taken  refuge 
and  rooted  deeply  into  the  soil  of  the  New  World,  and  at  their 
first  outbreak,  showed  how  bitterly  their  "  Dead  Sea  fruits " 
were  to  act  upon  the  people  who  fed  upon  them.  Their  race 
had  been  taught  that  labor  was  degrading ;  that  honest  toil  was 
a  curse  to  manhood  instead  of  a  blessing  ;  that  there  were  but 
three  avenues  to  honor — first,  the  Church ;  second,  the  State ; 
third,  the  army.  Naturally  taking  their  ideas  of  action  from 
those  who  had  ruled  over  and  educated  them  in  a  single  direc- 
tion for  three  hundred  years,  even  now,  from  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  position,  they  evince  but  too  often  that  most  unrepub- 
lican,  haughty,  and  arrogant  bearing  which  it  must  take  long 
to  eradicate.  '  Their  best  educated  men  see  this,  and,  in  proper- 


34 

tion  to  their  education  and  breadth  of  views,  are  free  from  this 
defect  of  character.  The  old  Spaniards  had  left  upon  them,  too, 
their  habits  of  plunder  and  misrule ;  the  effects  had  to  be 
eradicated.  Agricultural  pursuits  were  degrading ;  they  were 
to  be  made  honorable.  The  gambling  spirit  was  predominant ; 
it  had  to  be  curbed.  The  laws  were  of  ancient  Spanish  mould, 
un suited  to  modern  progress ;  they  were  to  be  remodeled. 
France  had  instilled  into  them,  among  the  first  books  which 
they  received,  the  "  red  republicanism  and  Utopian  theories 
of  the  French  revolution ;  the  effects  had  to  be  modified.  In  a 
late  address  before  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  the 
learned  Minister  from  the  Argentine  Republic,  Don  Domingo 
F.  Sarmiento,  said  : — "  You  have  not  been  exposed  to  the  dan- 
gerous influence  of  France  from  1810  to  18 — ,  and  I  know  not 
what,  disturbing  you  with  pernicious  writings  and  evil  examples, 
holding  up  alternately,  as  the  maximum  bonum  of  government, 
first  the  republic,  then  the  empire,  next  the  restored  monarchy, 
again  the  popular  monarchy,  then  throwing  down  the  monarchy 
and  restoring  the  republic,  crushing  the  republic  and  establish- 
ing the  empire.  You  have  not  had,  as  we  have,  a  more  fortunate 
republic,  such  as  the  United  States,  as  a  neighbor,  tantalizing 
you  by  holding  up,  as  examples,  its  liberties,  its  wonderful  pro- 
gress, and  its  federation." 

In  a  fierce  struggle  of  ten  years,  the  colonies  had  leaped 
from  the  sixteenth  to  the  nineteenth  century,  and  suddenly,  in  . 
the  light  of  the  progress  which  the  nations  of  the  world  had 
made  in  three  hundred  years,  found  themselves  dazzled  with 
the  efforts  which  they  were  forced  to  put  forth  to  reach  the 
level  of  modern  civilization.  They  saw  that,  while  the  world 
.had  been  advancing,  they,  under  the  iron  heel  of  Spain,  had 
lain  dormant ;  and  when  they  awoke  to  life  and  breathed  the 
first  inspiration  of  liberty,  they  found  themselves  the  Rip  Van 
Winkle  of  the  sixteenth  'century  .plunged  into  the  mad  race  of 
the  nineteenth.  They  looked  around  them  for  the  elements  with 
which  they  were  to  effect  their  regeneration,  and  what  did  they 
possess  ?  The^vhole  land  was  a  wild  wreck  of  desolation.  Who 
were  their  educated  men  who  were  to  grapple  with  this  giant 
problem  ?  Alas  !  education  had  been  limited  to  the  old  Spaniards 
whom  their  ten  years  of  civil  strife  had,  as  the  first  step  toward 
liberty,  forced  from  the  country.  The  abundant  talent  which 
their  soil  had  produced  was  as  untrained  as  the  luxuriant  vege- 
tation which  runs  wild  in  their  tropical  districts.  It  wanted 
cultivation,  and  they  set  about  the  giant  task ;  but  it  was  in 
the  midst  of  the  civil  hatreds  which  war,  famine,  and  entailed 
miseries  had  forced  upon  them.  Where  were  their  teachers  ? 
They  had  none.  Where  were  their  schools  ?  There  were  but 


35 


a  few  private  ones,  and  these  under  control  of  a 
"Were  there  any  public  ones  devoted  to  the  expansion  of  tne 
intellectual  forces  ?  You  might  have  traveled  from  San  Fran- 
cisco to  Chiloe  without  finding  one.*  When  schools  were  or- 
ganized, to  what  influences  were  they  subjected  ?  Suppose,  at 
the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  a  school  for  the  teach- 
ing of  liberal  government,  the  laws  of  progress,  the  sciences, 
and  all  those  great  elements  of  nineteenth  century  mental 
development,  had  been  established  in  Eome,  how  much  military 
force  would  it  have  required  to  preserve  it  intact  ?  What 
anathemas  from  the  Roman  Pontiff!  what  secular  power, 
limited  only  by  ecclesiastical  effort,  would  have  trained  its  ord- 
nance upon  the  plague  spot  in  their  midst,  until  it  would  have 
disappeared,  if  only  by  the  centripetal  attrition  of  the  revolving 
forces !  Yet  this  is '  the  picture  of  Spanish- America  when  it 
broke  from  the  yoke  of  Spain ;  and  it  has  been  in  the  midst  of 
each  opposing  elements  that  she  has  had  to  plant  the  germs  of 
that  educational  advancement  which  has  thus  far  blessed  her 
efforts.  "  Liberty,"  said  Rousseau,  "  is  a  succulent  food,  but 
difficult  of  digestion."  He  should  have  added,  when  mingled 
with  all  the  old-time  ideas  engendered  by  bigoted  opposition  to 
advancement. 

Said  General  Bolivar,  in  his  speech  to  the  Congress  of 
Venezuela,  "  Morals  and  knowledge  are  the  cardinal  points  of  a 
republic,  and  morals  and  knowledge  are  what  we  most  want." 
So  thought  and  so  think  all  the  great  men  of  Spanish- America, 
and  laboring  in  the  task,  they  still  struggle  onward,  at  each 
revolution  sweeping  some  old  curse  from  the  land,  and  ascend- 
ing one  step  higher  in  the  scale  of  political  progress. 

Another  seed  which  Bolivar  planted  in  the  political  soil  of 
Spanish-America  was,  that  "  knowledge  and  honesty,  not  money, 
are  the  requisites  for  exercising  political  power."  He  evidently 
valued  the  brain,  not  for  the  gilding  which  enabled  it  to  reflect 
light,  but  for  its  powers  of  absorption. 

Never  were  human  talents  put  to  a  severer  test  than  were 
those  of  Spanish- America,  and  especially  the  Mexican  portion, 
to  bring  order  out  .of  this  vast  pool  of  the  gathered  misrule  of 
centuries ;  and  never  have  patriots  worked  harder  in  a  glorious 
cause  than  have  those  of  Spanish- America  for  the  regeneration 
of  their  land.  But  amid  all  the  elements  which  they  found 

*  In  1561,  there  was  a  university  founded  in  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  a  few 
schools,  supposed  to  be  public,  but  public  only  to  the  privileged  classes,  were 
afterwards'establisbed  for  priests  and  lawyers.  An  excellent  academy  of  mines 
and  mining  engineers  gave,  to  those  who  could  gain  admittance,  superior  advan- 
tages in  an  art  so  essential  to  make  the  Mexican  mines  productive.  All  these 
echools  were,  however,  more  or  less  controlled  by  the  priesthood. 


36 

wanting  to  aid  them  in  their  heroic  struggle,  that  of  education 
was  the  foremost ;  how  to  educate  the  people  became  the  great 
problem  which  has  to  this  day  agitated  the  first  minds  of  the 
country,  and  which  has  been  fruitful  in  revolutionary  opposition 
to  its  progress.  The  first  necessity  was  to  confine  within  proper 
limits  the  influence  of  the  church ;  and  in  Mexico,  constant 
hammering  at  its  power  for  fifty  years,  although  with  feeble 
force,  has  produced  the  effect,  if  only  by  abrasion,  to  tear  off 
some  of  its  tentacula,  which  have  been  fixed  upon  every  ele- 
ment of  progress  in  the  land,  and  which  have  spread  their  slimy 
curse  upon  every  effort  at  mental  development.  Never  did  a 
more  bitter  tide  flow  over  a  land  than  that  of  the  clergy  over 
Mexico.  It  has  thrown  surge  after  surge  of  revolution  from 
one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other  in  its  mad  efforts  to,  drown' 
progress,  or  at  least  to  guide  upon  its  dark  tide  the  elements 
which  it  has  been  unable  fully  to  hurl"  back.  Its  vast  monop- 
olies of  estates  have  held  one-half  of  the  country  in  mortmain, 
and  have  made  the  whole  land  a  palimpsist,  where,  age  after 
age,  one  curse  has  been  rubbed  in  to  give  place  to  the  next. 
What  wonder  that  their  land  is  revolutionary !  What  wonder  if 
they  should  take  a  hundred  years  to  free  themselves  from  this 
leper  spot  upon  their  soil !  We,  born  under  a  happier  sky,  and 
with  our  religious  wars  fought  out  for  us  by  almost  a  half  cent- 
ury of  revolutiontary  conflict  in  Europe,  should  look  with  more 
sympathy  upon  the  struggle  of  a  people  for  religious  and  civil 
freedom.  Thoughtlessly  the  great  mass  of  our  countrymen 
point  to  Mexico  and  South  America  and  wonder  why  the  polit- 
ical elements  are  so  stormy.  The  North  American  child  was 
wafted  across  the  ocean,  born  of  the  very  essence  of  German 
and  Anglo-Saxon  progress,  with  its  religious  wars  all  fought,  its 
laws  all  shaped  to  the  times,  and  carrying  with  it  but  one  curse 
— slavery.  Even  this  one  last  curse  has  taken  four  years  of  the 
brain,  blood,  and,  though  but  of  slight  moment,  treasure  of  the 
country,  to  sink  it  among  the  dark  barbarities  of  the  past.  How 
much  time,  then,  should  we  give  to  a  people  to  shake  off,  at  one 
effort,  all  the  curses  herein  enumerated  ?  The  nursling  which 
the  Spaniards  brought  to  the  New  World  was  the  very  concen- 
tration of  the  religious  bigotry  which  had  sought  refuge  in 
Spain  at  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  The  child  wrapped 
in  the  swaddling  clothes  woven  in  the  religious  looms  of  the 
dark  ages  of  European  history,  was  an  exponent,  a  germ,  of  all 
the  curses  which  had  surged  around  the  Mediterranean  from 
the  Christian  era  to  the  time  that  the  light  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion broke  in  upon  Europe.  It  wore  a  garment  woven  by  the 
seven  crusades,  which,  from  Marseilles  or  down  through  the 
Adriatic,  had  stretched  across  the  Mediterranean,  or  from  Co- 


37 

logne  or  Metz,  had,  preceded  by  a  goat  and  a  goose,  swept 
through  the  heart  of  Europe  on  the  way  to  the  Holy  Land.  It 
was  wrapped  in  all  the  dark  mysteries  which  the  clergy  of  Rome 
could  smuggle  out  of  the  light" which  was  at  that  time  breaking 
in  to  civilize  Europe.  Rocked  under  the  upas  shade  of  the  In- 
quisition, it  breathed  the  polluted  atmosphere  which  had  been 
poisoned  by  the  ecclesiastical  vengeance  born  of  such  massacres 
as  that  of  Lavaur,  and  the  Church  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen.  By 
ten  years  of  savage  warfare,  Spanish- America  unrolled  the 
reeking  rags  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  light  of  liberty 
shone  upon  the  new  birth.  Warped  by  -all  that  ecclesiastical 
fanaticism,  linked  to  Spanish  *avarice,  could  concentrate  in  a 
single  element,  it  was  plunged  into  the  mad  whirlpool  of  our 
present  age,  and  expected,  at  a  single  stride,  to  attain  our  level. 
But  to  give  them  but  fifty  years  to  attain  a  point  which  it  has 
taken  us  three  hundred  years  to  reach,  is  to  acknowledge  their 
mental  superiority  over  us.  They  want  time ;  their  revolutions 
are  absolutely  essential  to  their  progress.  The  Mexican  Em- 
peror, Iturbide,  in  his  ostracism  at  Leghorn,  aptly  alludes  to 
the  false  view  which  has  been  taken  ot  Mexican  aifairs.  He 
says : — "  Nature  produces  nothing  by  sudden  leaps  ;  she  ope- 
rates by  intermediate  degrees.  The  "moral  world  follows  the 
laws  of  the  physical.  To  think  that  we  could  emerge  all  at 
once  from  a  state  of  debasement  such  as  that  of  slavery,  and 
from  a  state  of  ignorance  such  as  has  been  inflicted  upon  us  for 
three  hundred  years,  during  which  we  have  had  neither  books 
nor  instructors — and  the  possession  of  knowledge  has  been 
thought  a  sufficient  cause  for  persecution — to  think  that  we 
could  gain  information  and  refinement  in  a  moment,  as  if  by 
enchantment — that  we  could  acquire  every  virtue,  forget 
prejudices,  and  give  up  false  pretensions — was  a  vain  expecta- 
tion, and  could  only  have  entered  into  the  vision  of  an  en- 
thusiast." 

In  Mexico,  up  to  the  time  of  the  revolution  of  Ayutla, 
which  resulted  in  the  establishment  of  the  constitution  of  1857, 
the  Holy  Catholic  Church  has  been  the  main  feature  in  every 
constitution,  and  no  reform  has  been  attempted  wherein  the 
clergy  have  not  introduced  a  religious  element,  having  a  ten- 
dency to  maintain  the  fast-rooted  bigotry  of  their  spiritual 
power.  Their  religious,  linked  to  their  moneyed  influence,  had 
always  enabled  them  to  overturn  all  the  efforts  of  the  liberal- 
minded,  progressive  party,  who  have,  however,  nobly  clung  to 
the  task  of  overthrowing^this  curse  upon  their  body  politic.  .  In 
1833  the  combinations  of  the  progressionists  had  somewhat 
trammeled  the  clergy,  but  they,  by  bloody  revolutions,  upset 
ihe  presidents,  who  followed  each  other  in  quick  succession,  and 


304822 


38 


were  enabled,  through  the  aid  of  Santa  Anna,  to  shake  them- 
selves almost  entirely  free  from  any  State  influence.  By  this 
the  bishops  held  sole  control  over  all  ecclesiastical  property,  be- 
coming the  great  bankers  of  the  country,  effecting  loans,  taking 
mortgages  upon  all  kinds  of  property,  and  acting  in  all  respects 
like  immense  commercial  and  moneyed  corporations. 

In  the  proclamation  of  the  "  Basis  of  Political  Organization 
of  the .  Mexican  Kepublic,"  the  "  Holy  Catholic  Faith  "  was 
the  most  salient  feature.  It  held  in  its  vicelike  grasp  the  ele- 
ments of  progress,  and  refused  to  liberate  them.  So  early  as 
1824  an  attempt  was  made  in  the  State  of  Guadalaxera  to  con- 
fiscate the  church  property ;  but  it  was  met  by  a  decree  from 
the  General  Congress,  which  opposed  the  measure.  Congress, 
however,  passed  a  law  in  1833  abolishing  Church  tithes,  which 
tax  upon  the  agricultural  products  of  the  country  had  yielded 
the  clergy  a  large  revenue.  This  decree  of  Congress,  did  not, 
however,  have  the  effect  intended,  for  a  greater  part  of  the 
ignorant  people  still  render  into  the  coffers  of  the  Church  the 
old  tax,  wThich  their  religion  teaches  them  it  would  be  sacrile- 
gious to  withhold. 

From  1833  revolution  after  revolution  followed  in  quick 
succession,  each  eating  into  the  revenues  of  the  Church.  One 
party  trying  to  grasp  at  a  portion  of  the  Church  property 
that  they  might  rid  the  country  of  its  curse  ;  the  opposition, 
aided  by  the  funds  of  the  clergy,  waging  a  war  to  retain  the 
property  intact.  In  1834,  Gomez  Farias,  one  of  the  first  lead- 
ers in  reform,  advocated  in  the  legislative  halls  the  confiscation 
of  the  Church  property ;  but  Santa  Anna,  in  consonance  with 
his  attachment  to  church  interests,  opposed  the  measure.  Dur- 
ing the  government  of  Farias  and  Barrigan,  in  1835,  a  fruitless 
attempt,  leading  to  another  bloody  war,  was  made  to  confiscate 
this  property,  and  appropriate  it  to  the  payment  of  the  public 
debt.  The  liberals  had,  in  a  succession  of  wars  and  presidential 
overturnings,  been  gradually  gaining  ground  and  encroaching 
upon  the  church  power,  which,  although  eminently  superior  in 
financial  resources,  still  found  itself  forced  to  make  great  effort 
to  hold  the  ascendency  in  face  of  the  innovating  influences 
of  nineteenth  century  progress  and  the  advancing  civilization 
which  from  the  United  States  was  constantly  impinging  upon 
its  border.  A  law  was  passed  on  7th  January,  1847,  by  Con- 
gress, to  sell  or  mortgage  a  portion  of  the  church  property  in 
order  to  raise.  $15,000,000  to  carry  on  the  war  against  the 
United  States.  It  was,  however,  never  executed,  owing  to  the 
opposition  of  Santa  Anna  then  in  control  of  the  government. 

Hard  pressed  in  1854,  the  reactionists,  through  their  cham- 
pion, Santa  Anna,  still  nursed  the  hope  that  out  of  the  fecundity 


39 

of  Europe  they  might  receive  a  royal  ruler.  Their  efforts  to 
effect  this  had  been  increasing  since  the  independence  of  the 
country.  Knocking  constantly  at  the  nurseries  of  the  great 
European  royal  families,  they  hoped  when  success  crowned  their 
efforts  that  their  rule  over  the  land  might  be  confirmed,  that 
the  cowl  might  once  more  cover  the  helmet,  and  the  saintly 
frock  conceal  the  sword.  In  1845,  under  General  Parades,  they 
had  pressed  the  Spanish  throne  for  a  prince,  but  though  the 
measure  received  the  secret  sanction  of  Western  Europe,  the 
moment  was  not  propitious.  But  in  1854  the  effort  was  more 
powerful.  Santa  Anna,  then  Dictator,  commissioned  Gutierrez 
Estrada,  with  full  powers,  "  to  negotiate  in  Europe  for  the  es- 
tablishment of  a  monarchy  in  Mexico,"  saying,  "  I  confer  upon 
him  by  these  presents  the  full  powers  necessary  to  enter  into 
arrangements  and  make  the  proper  offers  at  the  courts  of  Lon- 
don, Paris,  Madrid  and  Vienna,  to  obtain  from  those  govern- 
ments, or  from  any  one  of  them,  the  establishment  of  a  Mon- 
archy derived  from  any  of  the  royal  races  of  those  powers, 
under  qualifications  and  conditions  to  be  established  by  special 
instructions."  Though  this  measure  was  urged  by  the  clergy 
with  all  their  influence  the  effort  was  unsuccessful ;  the  great 
Republic  of  the  North  was  too  compact,  too  well  filled  writh 
the  spirit  which  the  Monroe  doctrine  had  infused  into  the  peo- 
ple to  allow  it  to  look  calmly  on  and  see  Western  Europe  un- 
dertake an  armed  crusade  against  republicanism  in  the  'New 
World.  The  European  nations  saw  that  the  moment  was  un- 
propitious — too  dangerous — they  waited. 

In  1855  the  liberals  had  so  far  gained  upon  church  power 
that  General  Ignacio  Comonfort  occupied  the  presidential  chair. 
The  ecclesiastical  party  had  made  a  heroic  struggle,  but  their 
great  champion  Santa  Anna,  had,  upon  their  overthrow,  been 
forced  to  fly  from  the  country.  At  the  moment  of  his  depart- 
ure, the  liberals  being  at  some  distance  from  the  capital,  an 
attempt  was  made  by  the  clergy  to  organize  a  government  upon 
a  conservative  basis,  if  possible,  effecting  a  compromise  with 
their  opponents,  vainly  hoping  to  protract  their  power  by  de- 
laying the  final  triumph  of  the  progressive  efforts  at  reform 
which  the  liberals  were  so  boldly  hurling  against  them.  A 
similar  attempt  will  doubtless  be  made  by  them,  in  fact,  we 
believe  is  already  in  progress,  to  effect  a  compromise  upon  the 
overthrow  of  Maximilian. 

Urged  by  the  church  leaders,  General  Eomulo  Diaz  de  la 
Vega,  who  commanded  the  forces  deserted  by  Santa  Anna, 
attempted  to  organize  a  government  at  the  capital.  It  was  a 
weak  military  dictatorship  of  a  few  days,  and  scarcely  worth 
the  dignity  of  mention.  The  plans  of  the  conservatives  fully 


40 

arranged,  Carrera  was  installed  as  nominal  chief,  but  it  was 
for  a  month  only  that  he  exercised  a  power  which  extended  not 
beyond  the  city  limits.  The  effort  was  in  vain,  the  liberals 
soon  occupied  the  capital. 

The  great  movement  of  this  period,  therefore,  was  that  of 
the  liberals,  headed  by  Alvarez  and  Comonfort,  against  the  re- 
actionary or  Church  party,  headed  by  Santa  Anna.  General 
Alvarez,  the  most  prominent  in  the  leaders  of  the  revolution  of 
Ayutla,  though  from  his  infirmities  taking  a  less  conspicuous 
part  in  the  campaign,  had,  on  the  flight  of  Santa  Anna,  con- 
voked an  Assembly,  October  4,  1855,  at  Cuernavaca,  eighteen 
leagues  south  of  the  city  of  Mexico.  This  Assembly  appointed 
him  to  the  Presidency.  On  the  17th  of  the  same  month  he 
issued  a  proclamation  calling  an  election  of  Deputies  to  a  Na- 
tional Congress  to  meet  "  for  the  purpose  of  reconstituting  the 
nation  under  the  form  of  a  popular  representative  democratic 
republic."  This  Congress  met  on  the  18th  February,  1856,  and 
after  prolonged  sessions  adopted  a  constitution  which  was  finally 
sworn  on  the  3d  February,  1857,  and  became,  what  the  con- 
stitution of  1824  was  before  that  time,  the  organic  law  of  the 
land. 

The  cares  of  government,  old  age  and  infirmities,  had  in- 
duced General  Alvarez,  on  the  12th  December,  1855,  to  resign 
and  appoint  General  Comonfort  "President  Substitute." 
Comonfort  was  subsequently  made  President  by  a  formal  elec- 
tion under  the  constitution  of  1857,  and  on  the  1st  of  Decem- 
ber of  that  year,  again  took  oath  to  defend  that  great  liberal 
code  of  laws.  Afterwards,  under  the  constant  assaults  of  the 
clergy,  and  an  empty  treasury,  which  gave  him  no  means  to 
properly  construct  the  Government,  he  conceived  that  he  was 
fettered  by  this  code  whose  great  principles  he  believed  he  might 
sustain  while  he  abandoned  their  legalized  expression.  He 
therefore,  on  the  17th  December,  1857,  pronounced  against  the 
constitution,  and,  aided  by  the  Zuloaga  brigade,  attempted  by 
a  coup  d'etat  to  establish  a  dictatorship,  which  he  termed  a 
revolutionary  government ;  but  he  only  succeeded  in  teaching 
the  liberal  party  a  lesson  which  should  never  be  forgotten — 
not  to  permit  another  revolution  within  itself. 

The  reactionists  seized  the  favorable  opportunity  so  unex- 
pectedly offered  to  them ;  and,  on  the  llth  of  January,  Zuloaga 
and  his  brigade,  instigated  and  corrupted  by  the  clergy,  pro- 
nounced against  Comonfort,  who,  too  late,  saw  and  attempted 
to  correct  his  error.  He  now  tried  to  effect  a  compromise  be- 
tween the  reactionists  and  liberals  for  the  formation  of  a 
moderate  party,  but  both  parties  throwing  him  aside,  he,  on  the 
21st  of  January,  1858,  abandoned  the  capital  and  voluntarily 


embarked  for  the  United  States,  leaving  to  firmer  hands  the 
cause  he  had  before  done  so  much  towards  bringing  to  a  success- 
ful issue. 

The  liberals,  in  sustaining  the  reforms  embodied  in  the 
"  Plan  of  Ayutla,"  which  Alvarez  and  Comonfort  had  so  suc- 
cessfully supported,  had  attacked,  directly,  the  Church  property 
through  the  "  Law  Lerdo,"  or  law  of  "  desamortization."  Under 
this  law,  the  author  of  which  was  Miguel  Lerdo  de  Tejada,  a 
very  able  and  patriotic  statesman,  who  was  at  that  time  Minis- 
ter of  the  Treasury,  the  Church  was  required  to  sell  its  lands 
and  houses  to  such  of  its  tenants  as  should  make  application  ; 
or,  in  default  of  application,  to  such  other  persons  as  should 
first  propose  for  the  property.  The  sale  was  to  be 
effected  for  such  a  sum  as  the  rent  then  paid  would  be 
the  interest  upon  at  six  per  cent,  per  annum.  This  sum  was  to 
be  placed  in  a  perpetual  mortgage,  to  bear  ^in  equal  interest, 
and  to  be  held  by  the  Church.  The  Government  was  to  re- 
ceive a  tax  of  five  per  cent,  on  the  amount  of  sale  ;  it  being  a 
slight  increase  upon  the  existing  tax  on  all  transfers  of  real  es- 
tate. In  this  manner  $18,000,000  of  real  estate  passed  into  the 
hands  of  private  individuals  who  thenceforth  necessarily  sup- 
ported the  Constitutional  Government. 

The  clergy,  however,  left  no  measure  untried  to  prevent  its 
execution  ;  they  even  refused  final  absolution  and  sepulchral 
rites  to  purchasers.  The  law,  however,  only  changed  the  title 
of  the  Church  from  a  fee  simple  to  a  mortgage,  and  was  intended 
to  secure  an  enlarged  proprietary  and  consequent  improvement 
of  the  estates.  It  was  not  sufficiently  sweeping,  and  the 
tame  policy  of  a  partial  attack  upon  the  clerical  domain  was 
the  cause  of  its  non-success  at  the  moment.  Naturally,  at 
that  period,  the  minds  of  the  people  had  not  been  fully  awakened 
to  the  importance  of  the  great  principles  involved,  and  the 
effect  was  a  compromise  between  the  more  enlightened  minds  and 
the  conservative  portion  of  the  party,  who  were  not  fully  pre- 
pared to  accept  the  tremendous  responsibilities  which  the  Con- 
stitutional Government  under  Juarez  afterwards  assumed  in  the 
issue  of  the  sweeping  "  Decree  of  Secularization  "  which  was 
proclaimed  at  Yera  Cruz  in  July,  1859. 


PAET   IV. 

ACCESSION  OF  JUAREZ  TO  THE  PRESIDENCY — BIOGRAPHICAL 
SKETCH  OF  HIS  LIFE — CHURCH  GOVERNMENT  AT  THE  CAPI- 
TAL— THE  "  LAWS  OF  REFORM  " — THE  TERRIBLE  THREE- 
YEARS'  CONTEST — FINAL  TRIUMPH  OF  THE  LIBERALS — THE 
LIBERAL  AND  CHURCH  CREEDS — THE  CLERGY  INTRIGUE  FOR 
A  FOREIGN  INTERVENTION — THE  "  DECREE  OF  SECULARIZA- 
TION " — ZULOAGA  AND  MlRAMON — ACTION  OF  THE  DIPLO- 
MATIC CORPS — MANIFESTO  OF  THE  LIBERAL  GOVERNMENT — 
EFFECTS  OF  THE  FINAL  SUCCESS  OF  THE  LIBERALS — THE 
CHURCH  PARTY  PLUNDERS  THE  "  BRITISH  BONDHOLDERS' 
FUND" — MEXICO  UNABLE  TO  COMPLY  WITH  FINANCIAL  DE- 
MANDS OF  THE  EUROPEAN  GOVERNMENTS — RENEWED  ACTIVITY 
OF  THE  CLERGY  TO  INDUCE  FOREIGN  INTERVENTION. 

By  a  -provision  of  the  constitution  of  1857,  the  Chief  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  who  was  also  Yice-President  of  the  Re- 
public, became  President  in  default  or  by  absence  of  the  Presi- 
dent elect.  Fortunately  for  Mexico,  Benito  Juarez,*  a  man  of 

*  President  Benito  Juarez  is  by  birth  an  Indian  of  the  ancient  Zapoteco  race, 
which,  at  the  time  of  the  conquest,  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  in  Mexico.  He 
was  born  in  1 809,  in  the  province  of  Oaxaca,  near  the  village  of  Ixtlan. 

At  twelve  years  of  age  he  left  his  father's  herds,  mingled  in  the  excitement  of  a 
country  fair,  and  disgusted  with  the  thought  of  again  returning  home,  accepted 
employment  in  a  mule  train  then  en  route  for  Oaxaca.  At  that  city  he  encoun- 
tered Senor  Salanueva,  a  merchant,  who,  attracted  by  the  rare  natural  gifts  of  the 
boy,  adopted  him,  and  gave  him  the  best  education  within  reach.  The  youth 
soon  graduated  with  high  honors  at  the  College  of  Oaxaca ;  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  law,  and  rose  rapidly  to  distinction.  In  1846  he  was  elected  member  of 
Congress,  after  having  occupied  numerous  honorary  positions  in  his  native  State. 
He  soon  after  became  President  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice  of  Oaxaca,  and 
in  1847  was  elected  Governor  of  that  State.  In  this  position  he  urged  numerous 
public  improvements,  infused  life  into  the  development  of  mines  and  manufactures, 
and,  by  establishing  numerous  schools,  gave  an  impetus  to  educational  interests. 
In  1862  he  filled  the  chair  of  Civil  Law  at  the  Institute  of  Oaxaca,  and  afterward 
became  permanent  President  of  the  Institute.  At  this  time,  by  the  advocacy  of 
liberal  institutions,  he  attracted  the  attention  of  the  reactionary  government,  then 
under  the  Dictatorship  of  Santa  Anna ;  was  exiled,  and  retired  to  New  Orleans. 

The  Revolution  of  Ayutla,  in  1854,  enabled  Juarez  to  return  to  Mexico,  where, 
in  1856,  he  was  again  elected  Governor  of  his  native  State.  When  Alvarez  be- 
came President,  ad-interim,  after  the  overthrow  of  Santa  Anna  and  the  Church 
Party,  Juarez  became  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Departments  of  Justice,  Ecclesi- 
astical Affairs,  and  Public  Instruction.  Under  his  Secretaryship  was  issued  the 
law  abolishing  military  and  ecclesiastical  "  fueros,"  giving  for  the  first  time  in 
Mexico  equality  before  the  law.  After  again  having  been  Governor  of  his  native 
State,  he  was,  in  1866,  elected  to  the  National  Congress,  where  he  assisted  in 
framing  and  adopting  the  Constitution  of  1857. 

In  the  first  election  under  the  Constitution,  the  progressive  party  nominated 


43 

sterling  integrity,  was  holding  that  position  at  the  time  of  the 
coup  cFetdt  of  Comonfort.  He  refused  to  join  the  movement, 
and  was  in  consequence,  with  several  other  officials,  imprisoned 
until  it  was  consummated ;  but,  upon  the  flight  of  Comonfort, 
and  just  previous  to  the  establishment  of  the  government  of 
Zuloaga,  he  was  liberated,  and,  with  others  faithful  to  the  liberal 
cause,  succeeded  in  escaping  from  the  city.  He  reached  the 
city  of  Queretaro,  where  he  immediately  issued  a  proclamation 
reorganizing  the  Liberal  Government,  and  calling  upon  the  peo- 
ple to  rise  to  the  defense  of  the  Constitution  and  the  principles 
of  reform  to  which  the  whole  country  had  taken  oath.  This 
was  followed  by  a  decree,  on  February  9th,  1858,  declaring  all 
the  acts  of  the  so-called  Zuloaga  Government  null  and  void. 

The  church  party,  with  Zuloaga  for  its  exponent,  had  gained 
possession  of  the  capital  by  the  flight  of  Comonfort.  This 
was  on  the  21st  of  January,  1858.  On  the  22d,  Zuloaga 
convoked  a  junta  of  twenty -eight  persons  named  by  himself, 
who  in  turn  named  him  President  of  the  Republic.  Before  the 
30th,  the  machinations  of  the  church  and  reactionary  leaders 
had  induced  the  representatives*  of  foreign  powers  resident  at 
the  capital,  including  even  the  minister  from  the  United  States, 
to  recognize  Zuloaga  as  the  legitimate  president  of  the  republic. 
They  apparently,  either  with  lamentable  ignorance  of  the  great 
principles  involved  in  the  struggle,  or  else  blinded  by  the  mis- 
representations of  the  priest  party,  completely  ignored  the  real 
government  of  the  country ;  which,  by  the  will  of  the  people 
under  the  constitution  of  1857,  was  still  the  ruling  power  of  the 
land.  This  action  of  the  diplomatic  corps  only  aided  in  pro- 
longing the  contest,  by  giving  a  certain  character  and  import- 
ance to  the  church  party  before  the  world  which  it  would  have 
found  it  impossible  to  obtain  in  any  other  manner  at  this  period. 
It  virtually  gave  the  church  a  three  years'  additional  lease  of 
contest,  and  they  availed  themselves  of  it  to  the  fullest  measure. 

The  triumph  of  the  principles  of  the  constitution  of  1857 
it  was  well  known  would  seal  the  fate  of  the  vast  estates  of  the 
church.  The  hoary  old  giant  now  bared  all  his  muscles — brain, 

Juarez  for  President,  but  Comonfort  became  the  successful  candidate.  He  was, 
however,  in  November  of  the  same  year,  elected  President  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Justice,  and  became,  by  virtue  of  that  office,  Vice-President  of  the  Republic. 
Upon  the  flight  of  Comonfort,  Juarez  became  President.  From  that  date  his  history 
is  that  of  the  country. 

*  A  good  authority,  speaking  of  this  diplomatic  corps,  says :  "  The  French 
Minister  was  a  Jesuit ;  the  Minister  of  Guatemala  a  devoted  son  of  the  church ; 
the  American  Minister,  a  Southern  man,  wanted  to  treat  for  the  purchase  of  terri- 
tory and  became  the  dupe  of  the  others ;  the  English  Charge"  was  controlled  by 
capitalists  who  had  played  the  game  of  monopoly  so  long  that  they  thought  it 
could  be  played  forever." 


44 

sword,  treasure,  and  spiritual  power,  lighted  the  fires  of  revolu- 
tion throughout  the  land.  It  was  to  be  the  last  grand  struggle 
of  the  wounded  Hercules ;  and,  by  the  kindling  of  every  fagot 
of  church  wrath  and  power,  it  was  hoped  that  in  one  grand 
auto  de  fe  might  be  consumed  the  constitution  of  1857,  and 
with  it  every  liberal  sentiment  in- the  country.  The  liberals 
now  hurled  every  element  into  the  contest  against  ecclesiastical 
vengeance ;  for  three  years  the  civilization  of  the  nineteenth 
century  boldly  faced  the  armed  spectre  of  the  middle  ages,  and 
deluged,  the  valleys  of  Mexico  with  the  blood  which  it  was 
hoped  would  wash  out  the  stains  that  the  maddened  power  of 
the  clergy  had  blotted  upon  the  land.  For  three  long  years, 
with  varying  fortunes,  the  red  tide  ebbed  and  flowed,  burying 
in  its  death-grapple  both  bigotry  and  advancement.  The  star 
of  hope  for  Mexico  grew  dim ;  but  her  patriots,  begrimed  in  the 
,  battle-smoke  of  fifty  years  of  civil  strife,  still  held  their  heads 
above  the  surges,  now  riding  the  wave  now  in  its  valley,  but 
ever  hopeful,  ever  boldly  slashing  at  the  monster  which  had 
fattened  its  bloated  carcass  upon  their  fair  land.  Under  Zulo- 
aga  and  Miramon,  the  forces  of  the  church,  well  supplied  with 
material  of  war,  waged  fierce  conflict  with  the  patriots  who 
gathered,  half-starved,  poorly-clad,  and  lacking  in  everything 
except  determination,  under  the  banner  of  the  constitution- 
alists. 

Driven  from  Queretaro,  the  liberal  government  occupied 
successively  Guanajuato,  Guadalajara,  and  finally  Vera  Cruz. 
It  was  here  on  the  6th  April,  1859,  while  the  capital  was  still 
in  the  hands  of  the  reactionists,  that  the  United  States  recog- 
nized the  constitutional  government  under  President  Juarez  as 
the  legitimate  government  of  Mexico.  It  was  also  at  Vera 
Cruz,  in  July,  1859,  that  the  great  decrees  known  as  the  "  Laws 
of  Reform "  were  promulgated.  At  this  time  there  were  in 
possession  of  the  liberals  twenty-one  states  and  one  territory, 
out  of  the  twenty-four  states  and  territories  comprising  the 
republic,  besides  all  the  seaports  both  on  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific.  The  "  Law  Lerdo  "  had  been  repealed  by  the  reaction- 
ists, after  the  flight  of  Comonfort,  and  the  property,  which  had 
been  partly  wrenched  from  the  grasp  of  the  church,  had  again 
reverted  to  it  with  all  its  old  powers  intact,  so  far  as  the  juris- 
diction of  the  reactionists  extended.  But  the  contest  had,  at 
length,  through  all  the  conflicting  elements  which  Spain  had 
bequeathed  to  Mexico,  narrowed  itself  to  two  great  parties,  and 
the  country  began  to  see  the  dawn  of  a  permanent  peace.  The 
liberals,  gaining  ground,  took  heart,  and  through  difficulties 
which  might  well  appall  less  determined  patriots,  their  cause 
was  at  length  triumphant. 


45 

The  great  victory  of  San  Miguel  Calpulalpan,  on  the  22d 
December,  1860,  where  half  the  reactionist  army  was  captured, 
with  forty  pieces  of  artillery  and  all  its  munitions  of  war,  vir- 
tually struck  the  death  knell  of  the  church  power,  and  Boon 
after  the  liberals  appeared  before  the  capital. 

While  Juarez  was  closely  besieging  Miramon,  in  the  capital, 
the  clergy  prevailed  upon  France  and  England  to  offer  their 
mediation;  but  it  was  refused  by  the  liberals,  who  entered 
Mexico  January  11,  1861.  Miramon  and  other  reactionary 
chiefs  fled  the  country.  Juarez  immediately  proclaimed  the 
revival  of  the  civil  and  religious  reforms  of  1857.  He  dis- 
missed the  ministers  of  Spain  and  Guatemala,  and  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Holy  See,  M.  Clementi — all  for  machinations 
in  favor  of  the  ecclesiastical  party.  On  the  9th  of  May,  1861, 
Juarez  addressed  the  Congress,  and"  proclaimed  that  from  the 
efforts  of  the  liberals  "  were  born  the  laws  of  reform,  the 
nationalization  of  estates  held  in  mortmain,  liberty  of  worship, 
the  absolute  independence  of  civil .  and  religious  powers,  the 
secularization,  so  to  speak,  of  society,  whose  march  has  been 
detained  by  a  bastard  alliance,  which  profaned  the  name  of  God 
and  outraged  human  dignity." 

This  was  the  result  of  the  terrible  three  years'  struggle  from 
1858  to  1861 ;  but  the  church  still  maintained,  iinder  Marquez 
and  others,  small  forces  in  the  field,  which  committed  the  most 
brutal  excesses.  They  distinguished  neither  between  foreigner 
or  native,  but  upon  every  one  they  levied  contributions  of  blood 
and  treasure.  It  appeared  to  be  their  desire  to  make  a  pande- 
monium of  the  land,  the  better  to  induce  a  foreign  intervention, 
under  plea  of  humanity  to  a  people  whom  they  were  crushing 
under  their  bloody  despotism.  To  the  sunshine  which  lighted 
the  land  from  the  banners  of  the  liberals  the  church  opposed 
the  dark  creed  which,  forced  into  the  Atlantic  by  the  civiliza- 
tion of  Europe,  had  swam  the  ocean  and  sought  refuge  in  its 
last  stronghold,  Mexico. 

Look !  here  is  the  contrast  between  the  nineteenth  and  fif- 
teenth centuries : — 


LIBERAL  CREED  or  REFORM  AND  CIVILIZATION. 

Constitutional  government  in  place  of  dictatorship. 

Freedom  of  religion. 

Freedom  of  the  press. 

Nationalization  of  church  property. 

Army  subordinate  to  civil  power. 

Free  and  full  opening  for  colonization. 


REACTIONIST  OR  CHURCH  CREED. 

Inviolability  of  church  property,  and  re-establishment  of 
former  exactions. 

The  military  and  clergy  responsible  to  their  own  tribunals. 

Roman  Catholic  the  sole  religion. 

Censorship  of  the  press. 

No  immigrants  except  from  Catholic  countries. 

A  central  dictator,  only  subject  to  the  church,  or,  if  possible, 
the  restoration  of  a  monarchy  or  a  European  protectorate. 

Such  was  the  political  condition  of  the  country  when,  in 
1861,  the  constitution  of  1857  again  became  dominant,  and 
hope  shed  her  cheering  ray  over  the  whole  land  ;  but  the 


mighty  power  of  the  church  was  not  dead,  although  the  liberals 
had  confiscated  a  goodly  portion  of  its  estates.  The  clergy, 
upon  their  overthrow  by  the  liberal  party,  had  sent  their  ablest 


emissaries  to  Europe  to  represent  the  evil  condition  of  the 
country,  and  to  instill  into  the  monarchists  of  the  Old  World 
the  idea  that  Mexico  was  hopelessly  given  over  to  anarchy. 
Similar  representations  to  the  French  Government  in  1839  — 
about  the  time  of  the  French  naval  expedition  against  Mexico 
—  brought  forth  in  France  a  pamphlet  which  stated  that  "  it  is 
known  that  it  is  to  the  clerical  party  that  the  differences  which 
have  arisen  between  France  and  Mexico  must  be  attributed. 
This  party  wishes  to  bring  back  Mexico  to  monarchical  rule, 
and  has  pushed  it  to  a  war  with  us  in  order  to  arrive  at  this 
end." 

"  The  "priest  party  thought  that  by  injustice,  insult,  and 
outrage,  it  would  bring  France  to  undertake  the  conquest  of 
the  Mexican  republic,  and  that  a  monarchy  would  then  be 
established."  How  well  these  words,  written  in  1839,  apply  to 
186-1,  the  whole  history  of  the  late  French  invasion  proves. 

The  preamble  of  the  "  Decree  of  Secularization,"  issued  at 
Yera  Cruz,  July,  1859,  stated  :  "  That  if  at  any  previous  time 
there  was  room  for  any  one  to  doubt  that  the  clergy  has  been  a 
steadfast  obstacle  in  the  way  of  the  establishment  of  the  public 
peace,  to-day  all  men  recognize  that  it  is  in  a  state  of  overt 
rebellion  against  the  sovereign  authority." 

"  That  in  misapplying  the  legacies  and  gifts  which  the  pious 
have  intrusted  to  them  for  sacred  objects,  the  clergy  turn  them 
to  the  public  destruction  by  sustaining  and  rendering  daily 
more  sanguinary  the  fratricidal  dissension  which  is  set  afoot  in 
disowning  the  legitimate  authority,  and  denying  that  the 
republic  could  constitute  itself  into  any  form  that  the  majority 
selected." 


4T 

In  an  explanatory  circular  from  the  liberal  cabinet,  the  gov- 
ernment stated  its  objects  to  be  : 

"  To  bring  to  a  definite  close  this  bloody  and  fratricidal  war, 
which  a  portion  of  the  clergy  has  for  a  long  time  been  foment- 
ing in  the  nation,  with  the  single  object  of  preserving  its 
interests  and  prerogatives  which  it  derived  from  the  colonial 
system,  thus  shamelessly  abusing  the  influence  which  the  riches 
deposited  in  its  hands  affords  it,  and  abusing  the  offices  of  its 
sacred  ministry ;  and,  in  order  to  disarm  once  for  all  that  class 
of  elements  which  serve  as  buttresses  to  support  its  mischievous 
sway,  the  government  hold  it  to  be  indispensable : — 

"  1st.  To  establish,  as  a  general  and  invariable  rule,  most 
perfect  independence  between  affairs  of  state  and  those  purely 
ecclesiastical : 

"  2d.  To  suppress  all  corporations  of  regulars  of  masculine 
sex  without  any  exception,  secularizing  the  priests  now  embodied 
in  them : 

"  3d.  To  extinguish  equally  the  associations,  archicofradias, 
brotherhoods,  and  in  general  all  corporations  now  existing  of  a 
religious  character : 

"4th.  To  put  a  period  to  the  novitiates  in  the  convents  of 
monks,  retaining  those  actually  existing  in  "them,  with  the 
means  and  endowments  each  possesses,  and  assigning  the  neces- 
sary means  for  the  maintenance  of  service  in  the  respective 
temples : 

"  5th.  To  declare  that  all  property,  &c." 
We  dwell  somewhat  at  length  upon  this  period  in  the  his- 
tory of  Mexico,  for  it  is  the  time  at  which  the  plant  of  a  fifty 
years'  revolutionary  growth  was  budding  into  the  civilizing 
reforms  incorporated  into  the  mea'sures  which  sprung  from  the 
Revolution  of  Ayutla,  the  constitution  of  185 7,  and  the  Laws 
of  Reform,  including  this  Decree  of  Secularization.  The 
grand  principles  found  in  these  had  at  length  reached  the  sur- 
face ;  but  the  sturdy  plant  had  yet  to  face  another  fierce  blast, 
and  this  time  from  Europe. 

The  clergy,  as  a  last  resort  to  overthrow  the  liberals,  sought 
the  shadow  of  the  French  throne,  and  hoped  still  to  write  the 
doom  of  Mexico  with  a  quill  plucked  from  the  Austrian  eagle. 
The  great  military  and  political  leaders  of  the  Church  party, 
ostracised  by  the  liberals,  filled  Paris  with  false  representations 
of  their  country.  Miramon  and  Almonte,  with  others  of  the 
Church  party,  who  were  the  very  exponents  of  the  Mexican 
revolutionary  woes,  and  who  had  scourged  the  country  with 
fire,  rapine  and  murder,  hovered  around  the  Tuileries ;  and 
their  plans  falling  upon  willing  ears  were  soon  perfected.  M. 
Lefevre,  in  a  letter  to  the  London  Daily  News,  January  4, 1864, 


ably  details  the  tyranny  of  the  reactionary  party  during  the 
occupation  of  Mexico  by  Zuloaga  and  Miramon.  First  came 
two  decrees  annulling  the .  alienation  of  church  property,  and 
restoring  the  ecclesiastical  and  military  jurisdiction  as  it  existed 
before  1853.  M.  de  Gabriac,  French  Minister  to  Mexico,  was 
quite  prominent  at  that  time  in  rendering  assistance  to  the  re- 
actionary party,  for  in  a  letter  of  February  27,  1858,  he  recalls 
to  the  Archbisnop  of  Mexico  the  services  which  he  has  rendered 
to  the  country  and  to  the  Holy  Church  of  that  ecclesiastical 
province.  "  M.  Zuloaga,  the  intimate  friend  of  MM.  Gabriac 
and  Otway,  had  contented  himself  with  imposing  a  tax  upon 
capital  of  £1,000  and  upwards." 

February  7,  1859,  M.  Miramon,  another,  and  not  less  inti- 
mate friend  of  these  gentlemen,  had  attacked  (and  as  usual  as 
an  "  extraordinary  "  measure)  personal  property  of  £200  ster- 
ling and  upwards,  and  had  included  the  liberal  and  industrial 
professions  in  the  impost.  In  May  of  the  same  year  he  had 
imposed  ten  per  cent,  on  real  property.  Then  came  the  "  Peza  " 
law,  or  collection  of  a  year's  taxes  in  advance.  Then,  when  it 
was  found  that  all  the  financial  measures  were  insufficient  to 
fill  the  void  of  the  Danaides  sieve,  which  was  called  at  that 
time  the  "  Public  Treasury,"  the  same  Miramon  taxed  all  at 
once,  March  20,  1860  : 

First.  Effective  capital  of  £200  and  upward. 

Second.  The  liberal  and  industrial  professions. 

Third.  "Moral  capital,"  or  tax  upon  the  wages  of  em- 
ployees. 

The  amount  of  taxes,  which  had  been  tripled  by  Zuloaga  in 

I  1858,  was  quadrupled  by  Miramon  in  1859,  and  in  case  of  some 

II  Europeans — mostly  French,  whose  minister  would  not  interfere 
/     — was  sevenfold. 

The  way  that  Miramon  happened  to  succeed  Zuloaga  was 
peculiar,  both  being  of  the  reactionary  party.  In  1858,  Zuloaga 
had  issued  his  "  Christmas  pronunciamiento  " — the  harpies  of 
desolation  had  been  quarreling  about  the  spoils.  The  country 
had  to  be  pacified,  and  under  plea  that  the  government  of  Zu- 
loaga lacked  authority,  they  for  a  moment  conferred  it  on 
Robles,  who  soon  found  it  too  weighty  a  burden  and  transferred 
it,  a  few  days  after,  to  the  shoulders  of  Miramon,  the  most  bit- 
ter "  reactionist  "  of  his  party. 

The  Ministers  of  France,  Spain  and  England  appeared  de- 
termined to  recognize  this  bastard  government,  despite  the  fact 
that  almost  the  whole  country  was  in  the  hands  of  the  liberals, 
and  that  almost  every  State  adhered  to  the  constitution  of  1857. 
Mr.  Otway,  who  represented  Great  Britain,  had,  while  Miramon 
was  General,  demanded  his  dismissal  for  outrages  committed 


49 

upon  British  subjects  at  San  Luis ;  but  so  Boon  as  Miramoa 
occupied  the  Presidential  chair  he  formally  recognized  him. 
Miramon  and  Marquez  soon  after  defeated  the  liberals  at  Tacu- 
bay a,  entered  the  town,  took  seven  "liberal"  surgeons  who 
were  attending  to  the  sick  and  wounded  of  both  parties  in  the 
hospitals,  and  on  April  11,  1859,  shot  them  in  cold  blood. 
These  were  the  acts  of  the  party  whom  the  allies  were  to  shelter 
under  their  flag  when  a  few  years  later  the  intervention  was 
undertaken  to  prevent  anarchy  in  Mexico  and  reinstate  the 
conservative  party,  who,  under  Almonte,  Miramon,  Marquez, 
Zuloaga,  Mejia,  Miranda,  and  others,  had  spread  devastation 
over  their  country. 

The  diplomatic  corps  had  recognized  Miramon  the  very  day 
of  his  accession  to  power.  Mr.  Otway  had  passed  directly 
through  Yera  Cruz,  occupied  by  the  legitimate  government,  to 
open  relations  with  the  last  tire-brand  which  the  church  party 
was  able  to  hold  aloft  at  a  moment  when  they  only  controlled 
the  cities  of  Mexico  and  Puebla,  with  a  few  adjoining  villages. 
So  shamefully  open  was  Mr.  Otway's  collusion  with  the  clergy, 
that  it  caused  his  recall  in  July,  1859.  He  was  superseded  by 
Mr.  Matthew.  The  church  party  appeared  to  possess  peculiar 
and  fascinating  charms  for  the  diplomatic  representatives  of 
foreign  governments.  Upon  the  arrival  of  Baron  E.  de  Wag- 
ner, the  representative  'of  Prussia,  they  immediately  won  him 
to  their  support.  M.  Gabriac,  the  French  minister,  was  so  un- 
scrupulous and  powerful  in  support  of  the  church  that  he  was 
recalled  and  left  on  the  8th  May,  1860. 

In  the  meantime  Zuloaga  quarreled  with  Miramon,  and 
demanded  his  restoration  to  power,  maintaining  that  the  Presi- 
dency had  only  been  delegated  to  the  latter  as  "President 
Substitute."  Miramon  refused  to  resign,  and  forced  Zuloaga  to 
accompany  him  on  a  campaign  against  the  liberals.  The  di- 
plomatic corps  recognized  the  claims  of  Zuloaga,  and  on  the 
llth  May  they  (with  the  exception  of  the  Papal  Nuncio  and 
and  the  "Minister  of  Guatemala)  declared  that  there  was  no 
government  existing  in  the  capital.  In  August,  upon  the  return 
of  Miramon  from  Ms  campaign,  he  called  a  junta  of  nineteen, 
was  elected  by  them  President  of  the  Republic,  and  recognized 
as  such  by  M.  Pacheco,  envoy  from  Spain.  The  reason  of  this 
recognition  was  obvious ;  it  was  to  maintain  intact  the  Mon- 
Almonte  treaty  which  had  been  negotiated  at  Paris  between 
Spain  and  the  Miramon  government  in  September,  1859,  and 
which  recognized  claims  previously  ignored  by  every  Mexican 
government.  In  a  protest  against  this  treaty,  30th  January, 
1860,  the  constitutional  government  called  it  "unjust  in  its 
essence,  foreign  to  the  usage  of  nations  in  the  principles  it 


50 


established,  illegal  in  the  manner  in  which  it  was  negotiated, 
and  contrary  to  the  rights  of  our  country."  This  infamous 
treaty  was  afterwards  to  form  a  part  of  the  Spanish  claim 
against  Mexico,  at  the  time  of  the  allied  intervention. 

The  diplomatic  corps  were  determined  apparently  to  give 
the  reactionists  the  longest  possible  lease  of  life.  On  the  21st 
October,  I860,  the  English  Charge  withdrew  to  Jalapa  and  was 
soon  followed  by  the  Prussian  Minister.  In  November  the 
French  Minister,  M.  Saligny,  arrived,  and  proceeding  imme- 
diately to  Jalapa  attempted  to  effect  a  compromise  between 
the  contending  parties.  Failing  in  this,  he  went  to  the  capital, 
20th  December,  1862.  The  diplomatic  corps  now  held  a  neutral 
position  notwithstanding  nearly  the  whole  country  was  in  the 
hands  of  the  liberals.  They  were  apparently  awaiting  the 
progress  of  events.  It  was  at  this  time  that  their  favorite,  Mi- 
ramon,  broke  into  the  British  Legation  and  seized  the  "  British 
bondholders'  fund,"  after  he  had  been  completely  beaten  in  a 
battle  with  the  liberals,  whose  victorious  troops  entered  the 
capital  on  the  25th  December,  I860. 

In  a  manifesto  of  the  Constitutional  Government,  issued  on 
the  20th  January,  1861,  upon  its  restoration  to  power,  there  is 
a  spirit  of  reform,  of  progress,  and  the  embodiment  of  modern 
civilization,  which  no  liberal  and  civilized  foreign  government 
could  ignore ;  for  the  stability  of  every  modern  power  must 
depend  upon  the  upholding  and  the  propagation  of  such  prin- 
ciples. This  manifesto  says :  "  The  social  reforms  decreed  at 
Yera  Cruz,  and  which  may  be  summed  up  in  the  nationalization 
of  the  property  held  in  mortmain,  freedom  of  religion  and  the 
consequent  independence  between  the  civil  and  spiritual  power, 
are  sanctioned  by  public  opinion,  have  been  the  principal  objects 
of  the  struggle,  and  in  place  of  being  in  conflict  with  the  con- 
stitution are  only  the  development  of  the  germ  which  it  con- 
tains." "  The  government  neither  can  nor  could  retrace  its 
steps  in  the  path  of  reforms  which  are  so  conformable  to  the 
spirit  of  the  age,  and  that  are  the  only  means  of  reanimating 
and  invigorating  a  society  almost  annihilated  by  inveterate 
abuses,  and  deep  prejudices,  and  wasted  by  half  a  century  of 
discord.  The  emancipation  of  the  civil  power,  the  liberty  of 
conscience,  and  a  respect  for  all  beliefs,  will  assure  peace,  and 
will  bring  to  the  republic  new  elements  of  riches  and  of  pros- 
perity." 

They  determined  to  reorganize  the  judicial  powers,  to 
establish  trial  by  jury,  to  have  entire  freedom  of  education,  to 
establish  primary  and  public  schools,  endow  colleges  and  public 
institutes  of  science  and  progress,  and  grant  complete  liberty 
to  the  press. 


51 

Public  improvements  and  the  survey  of  the  public  lands 
were  among  the  measures  advocated.  These  and  a  fixed  fiscal 
^estimate  were  to  restore  the  financial  condition  of  the  country 
to  a  sound  condition,  while  proper  taxation,  protection  to  trade 
and  foreign  commerce,  and  the  abolition  of  internal  customs 
dues,  were  to  aid  in  the  general  movement  of  progress  and 
reform. 

The  army,  instead  of  being  swelled  to  such  a  proportion  as 
to  absorb  all  the  revenues  and  endanger  the  stability  of  the 
government,  was  to  be  subordinate  to  the  civil  power,  and 
limited  to  the  actual  necessities  of  the  republic. 

Almost  breathless  after  a  fierce  struggle  of  fifty  years, 
Mexico  had  at  last  brought  these  high  principles  to  the  surface 
of  her  stormy  political  sea. 

Upon  the  success  of  the  liberals,  and  the  establishment 
throughout  the  whole  country  of  the  constitution  of  1857,  the 
people  felt  that  they  had  at  length  freed  themselves  from  the 
great  curse  which  had  borne  so  heavily  upon  them.  It  had  taken 
fifty  years,  and  there  now  seemed  to  open  before  them  that  long 
vista  of  prosperity  for  which  the  liberal  statesmen  had  so  long 
sighed,  and  for  which  they  had  every  reasonable  right  to  hope. 
All  that  was  necessary  for  Mexico  was  to  settle  into  the  channel 
and  follow  the  liberal  principles  which  she  had  espoused.  True, 
it  was  a  herculean  task  which  her  patriots  had  to  uphold.  The 
chariot  of  Mars  had  so  long  rolled  its  wheels  over  the  land  that 
almost  every  element  of  stability,  except  the  grasp  of  the  clergy 
which  still  partially  lingered,  had  been  crushed  out.  Morality 
was  almost  a  wreck  ;  for  it  had  been  ground  to  powder  between 
the  ills  of  civil  commotion  and  the  corruption  of  the  church. 
The  finances  of  the  government  were  not ;  and  the  liberals, 
poised  upon  the  goal  which  their  heroism  had  at  last  won,  were 
forced  to  balance  themselves  by  every  means  which  might 
enable  them  to  maintain  their  position  until  the  resources  of 
the  country,  trained  in  peaceful  currents,  might  give  them  the 
means  to  restore  their  finances  to  a  healthful  condition.  Their 
armor,  torn,  battered,  and  shattered  in  the  greaves,  through  the 
sturdy  blows  which  the  church  power  had  unceasingly  rained 
upon  it,  needed  repair ;  but  scarcely  had  they  taken  breath 
before  Europe  was  upon  them,  and  again,  with  lance  in  rest  for 
a  tilt  against  the  empire,  they  battle  to  restore  the  civilizing 
principles  which  they  have  unswervingly  upheld,  and  which 
must  finally  triumph. 

In  the  long  series  of  revolutions  through  which  Mexico  has 
passed,  the  evil-minded  of  both  parties — for  that  every  cause 
has  its  traitors  our  late  struggle  with  the  South  well  proves — 
were  not  unmindful  of  their  pockets.  The  governments,  too, 


52 

in  order  to  maintain  themselves,  had  negotiated  loans  at  a 
ruinous  discount,  and  sold  valuable  privileges  existing  in  the 
country  for  almost  a  song.  In  1841,  General  Bustamente 
effected  a  loan  of  $1,200,000.  He  received  for  it  $200,000 
cash,  and  one  million  in  paper  credits  of  the  government,  which 
were  selling  in  the  market  for  nine  cents  on  the  dollar.  So 
hard  pressed  at  one  time  was  the  government,  that  it  sold  the 
coining  privilege  of  Guanajuato  lor  fourteen  years,  receiving 
therefor  $71,000  cash,  when  they  were  offered  $400,000,  if  they 
would  take  it  in  yearly  installments  of  $25,000  each.  The 
"  Keactionists  "  had  stripped  the  country  of  almost  every  ele- 
ment of  wealth  upon  which  they  could  lay  hands,  regardless  of 
consequences.  They  had  maintained  a  perfect  system  of 
brigandage  in  every  department ;  the  onerous  taxes  which  they 
had  imposed  being  but  the  very  lightest  part  of  the  burden  to 
which  the  people  were  subjected.  In  September,  1860,  M.  Le- 
fevre,  a  resident  of  Mexico  at  the  time,  relates  that  "  General 
Miramon  called  together  a  new  assembly  of  twenty-six  capi- 
talists, and  demanded  of  them,  according  to  his  invariable 
custom,  revolver  in  hand,  the  trifle  of  £100,000  sterling." 
Again,  the  "  defenders  of  order  "  determined  to  seize  £152,000 
sterling  belonging  to  British  bondholders.  This  cash  was  in  the 
safes  of  the  British  legation,  and  protected  by  the  British  seals, 
General  Marquez,  charged  with  the  task,  in  a  letter  entirely 
unique,  demanded  that  the  funds  "  which  might,  under  existing 
circumstances,  run  great  risks  in  case  of  disturbance,"  should  be 
delivered  up  for  safe  keeping  to  the  Commissary  General.  The 
legation  refused  to  deliver  it ;  and  the  seals,  bearing  the  arms 
of  England,  were  broken,  and  the  money  removed  by  the 
church  party.  Marquez  afterwards  received  the  cordon  of 
"  Commander  of  the  Legion  of  Honor,"  probably  for  commit- 
ting a  deed  so  essential  to  give  the  allied  intervention  a  coloring 
of  justice. 

The  liberal  government,  required  by  its  position  to  gain  time, 
until,  by  regenerating  the  country,  they  might  restore  health  to 
the  finances,  was  absolutely  forced,  through  inability  to  comply 
with  the  treaties  which  the  evil  rule  of  the  reactionists  had 
foisted  upon  the  country  in  an  unfortunate  hour,  to  decree  the 
postponement  of  the  payment  of  interest  on  all  foreign  debts 
for  two  years.  So  exhaustive  had  been  the  rule  of  their  prede- 
cessors that  there  was  absolutely  nothing  left  with  which  to 
carry  on  the  government  from  day  to  day.  Of  the  revenues 
received  upon  French  imports  but  eight  per  cent,  were  available 
for  government  use,  while  upon  English  imports  all  but  twenty- 
five  per  cent,  had  been  pledged  for  payments  to  foreign  bond- 
holders. The  act  of  the  suspension  of  the  payment  of  interest 


53 

on  foreign  debts,  linked  with  the  mountain  of  unredressed 
grievances  of  the  previous  years,  enabled  the  French  and  British 
ministers  to  come  to  an  open  rupture  with  the  government.  In 
a  correspondence  with  the  latter  the  Mexican  Secretary  of  State 
said  :  "  So  great,  indeed,  was  their  respect  for  these  funds  that 
they  preferred  to  sacrifice  their  obligations  to  Mexicans,  to 
trample  under  foot  the  most  cherished  principles  of  their  coun- 
try— nay,  even  to  imprison  persons  of  the  highest  respectability, 
in  order  to  obtain  resources  from  the  sum  paid  for  their  release 
— rather  than  touch  a  cent  of  the  assignments  destined  for  the 
diplomatic  convention  and  the  London  debt."  Sir  Charles 
Wyke,  in  his  answer,  said :  "  A  starving  man  may  justify  in 
his  own  eyes  the  fact  of  his  stealing  a  loaf  on  the  ground  that 
imperious  necessity  impelled  him  thereto."  The  retort  of  the 
Mexican  Minister  was  apt :  "  It  would  be  rather  that  of  a 
father  overwhelmed  with  debts,  who,  with  only  a  small  sum  at 
his  disposal,  scarcely  sufficient  to  maintain  his  children,  em- 
ployed it  in  the  purchase  of  bread  instead  of  the  payment  of 
his  bills."  The  Mexican  government  was  actually  so  poor  at 
this  time  that  it  could  not  provide  their  minister  to  France 
enough  money  to  pay  his  passage  home. 

It  appeared  that  foreign  governments,  reasoning  that  nothing 
but  anarchy — not  great  principles — had  been  established  by  the 
long  and  dismal  period  of  revolutionary  contests  between  libe- 
ral and  almost  obsolete  ideas,  were  willing,  at  the  very  moment 
when  the  battle  had  been  finished,  the  victory  won,  and  a  liberal, 
progressive  government  established  over  the  land  which  had  been 
so  long  priest-ridden,  to  press  to  the  wall  the  liberalists,  and 
throw  a  cloud  over  the  rising  sun  of  Mexican  glory.  The  lib- 
erals, exhausted  of  treasure,  with  naught  left  them  but  their 
own  good  swords,  and  after  a  sanguinary  and  terrible  struggle 
of  fifty  years  for  principles  which  every  civilized  nation  has 
inscribed  in  its  code  of  laws,  now  found  themselves  likely  to  be 
assailed  by  a  wave  from  those  very  nations  which  pretended  to 
teach  them  the  science  of  government.  It  was  destined  to  dash 
upon  them,  retard  their  progress  and  add  its  desolation  to  the 
land  which  Europe  had  already  cursed. 

Meanwhile  the  clergy  were  active  with  their  machinations. 
Miramon  was  busy  in  Spain,  where  O'Donnell,  the  prime  min- 
ister, lent  a  willing  ear  to  the  flattering  hope  that  Mexico  was 
now  ready,  like  a  ripe  peach,  to  drop  into  the  hands  of  any 
prince  whom  Spain  might  feel  disposed,  by  the  aid  of  a  little 
force,  to  place  upon  the  throne  of  her  former  viceroyalty.  The 
hope  was  too  much  in  common  with  the  Spanish  dream  of  res- 
tored colonial  rule  to  be  treated  lightly,  and  an  expedition  was 
already  upon  the  eve  of  organization  for  the  benefit  of  the 


54 

Mexican  clergy,  for  the  redress  of  manifold  grievances,  and  for 
the  insult  to  her  Minister,  Senor  Pacheco,  who  had  been 
expelled  from  Mexico  for  meddling  in  the  politics  of  the, 
country. 


PART     Y. 

CAUSE  OF  THE  ALLIANCE    BETWEEN  FRANCE    AND  ENGLAND — 

MOTIVES  ALLEGED  FOE  THE  INTERVENTION — OBJECTS  OF  SPAIN 

—  PLANS  OF  ENGLAND  —  THE  AUSTRIAN  ELEMENT  —  THE 
TRUMPED-UP  FINANCIAL  CLAIMS — SIGNING  OF  THE  TREATY  OF 
ALLIANCE — SEIZURE  OF  VERA  CRUZ  BY  SPAIN — DISCOURAGE- 
MENT OF  THE  ALLIES — TREATY  OF  LA  SOLEDAD — DEMANDS 
OF  THE  ALLIES  —  THEY  QUARREL — ENGLAND  AND  SPAIN 

WITHDRAW  THEIR  FORCES  — GROSS  VIOLATION  OF   THE  TREATY 

OF  LA  SOLEDAD  BY  FRANCE — THE  CHURCH  PARTY  THROW  OFF 
THE  MASK — DEFEAT  OF  THE  FRENCH  AT  PUEBLA — THE  EF- 
FECT IN  FRANCE— ARRIVAL  OF  GENERAL  FOREY — SIEGE  AND 
FALL  OF  PUEBLA — THE  APPOINTMENT  OF  NOTABLES — ILLE- 
GAL ELECTION  OF  MAXIMILIAN  TO  BE  EMPEROR — IT  is  SANC- 
TIONED BY  A  PRETENDED  POPULAR  YoTE EuPTURE  OF  THE 

FRENCH  WITH  THE  CHURCH  PARTY  WHO  ISSUE  A  PROTEST — 
MISTAKES  OF  NAPOLEON  III — THE  PROMISED  FRENCH  EVAC- 
UATION— POSITION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  ON  THE  MEXICAN 
QUESTION. 

WE  come  now  to  the  causes  of  the  union  of  France  and 
England  in  this  expedition,  whose  inception  was  Spanish  ;  and 
although  it  is  a  matter  which  will  not  admit  of  a  clearly  math- 
ematical demonstration,  owing  to  the  lack  of  documents  which 
are  behind  the  scenes,  we  mav  hope  at  least  to  show  why  France 
deemed  it  to  her  interests  to*  establish  a  throne  in  Mexico.  In 
the  instructions  to  General  Forey,  3d  of  July,  1862,  after  the 
mask  had  been  thrown  off'  and  France  had  been  left  alone  in 
her  pursuit  of  conquest,  the  Emperor  Napoleon  said :  "  In  the 
present  state  of  the  civilization  of  the  world  the  prosperity  of 
America  is  not  a  matter  of  indifference  to  Europe,  for  it  is  that 
country  which  feeds  our  manufactories  and  gives  an  impulse  to 
our  commerce.  We  have  an  interest  in  the  republic  of  the 
United  States  being  powerful  and  prosperous,  but  not  that  she 
should  take  possession  of  the  whole  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
thence  command  the  Antilles  as  well  as  South  America,  and  be 
the  only  dispenser  of  the  products  of  the  New  World."  *  * 


55 

"  We  now  see  how  precarious  is  the  lot  of  a  branch  of  manu- 
facture which  is  compelled  to  procure  its  raw  material  in  a  sin- 
gle market — all  the  vicissitudes  of  which  it  has  to  bear."  *  * 
"  If,  on  the  contrary,  Mexico  maintains  her  independence  and 
the  integrity  of  her  territory ;  if  a  stable  government  be  there 
constituted,  with  the  assistance  of  France,  we  shall  have  restored 
to  the  Latin  race  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  all  its  strength 
and  its  prestige ;  we  shall  have  guaranteed  security  to  our  West 
India  colonies,  and  to  those  of  Spain  ;  we  shall  have  established 
our  friendly  influence  in  the  center  of  America,  and  that  influ- 
ence, by  creating  immense  markets  for  our  commerce,  will  pro- 
cure us  the  raw  materials  indispensable  for  our  manufactures." 
*  *  *  "  Mexico,  thus  regenerated,  will  always  be  well- 
disposed  towards  us,  not  only  out  of  gratitude,  but  also  because 
her  interests  will  be  in  accord  with  ours,  and  because  she 
will  find  support  in  her  friendly  relations  with  European 
Powers." 

Here,  then,  were  the  true  causes  of  the  expedition  which, 
condensed,  meant  the  commercial  and  political  aggrandizement 
of  France,  and  the  interposition  of  a  barrier  to  the  extension  of 
the  great  Republic.  There  was,  however,  one  more  element  all 
powerful  with  the  French  Emperor.  It  was  the  glory  of  the 
Catholic  faith  throughout  Christendom,  as  the  champion  of 
which  France  now  stands  foremost.  We  cannot  forget  that 
Pepin,the  son  of  Charles  Martel,  wanted  the  Crown  of  France, 
and  that  a  contract  was  made  between  him  and  Pope  Zachary,  in 
752,  whereby  Pepin  became  king,  and  the  Pope  wTas  freed  from 
Constantinople  and  the  Lombards ;  that  the  next  year  Pope 
Stephen  II.  visited  France,  anointed  Pepin  with  the  "  holy  oil," 
in  the  monastery  of  St.  Denis,  and  thus  indissolubly  linked  the 
throne  of  France  to  the  Yatican.  The  influence  has  never 
been  lost,  and  France,  by  her  power,  has  in  latter  years,  become 
the  exponent  of  the  church  militant  in  Europe ;  the  mantle  of 
Spain,  as  the  "  Bulwark  of  Christendom,"  falling  upon  her 
shoulders.  In  the  restoration  of  the  Catholic  power  in  Mexico, 
to  a  healthy  condition,  we  must  find  one  of  the  most  powerful 
of  the  causes  of  the  French  intervention,  and  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  propped  up,  as  it  is  to-day,  by  French  bayonets,  is  not 
backward  in  demanding  of  its  faithful  adherents  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  Mexican  church.  To-day  France  has  done  in  Mex- 
ico what  M.  Billault,  in  the  Corps  Legislatif,  Tth  February, 
1864,  said  she  had  done  in  China :  "  We  have  penetrated  into 
the  heart  of  China  to  plant  at  the  same  time  the  symbol  of  our 
faith,  which  we  protect,  and  to  open  a  world  to  our  com- 
merce." 

Another  powerful  reason  for  the  French  occupation  of  Mex- 


56 

ico,  is  its  commanding  position,  which  is  salient  above  all  other 
countries,  as  we  have  shown  in  the  opening  of  this  paper.  We 
may  point  to  the  fact  that  since  the  rule  of  the  Emperor  Napo- 
leon III.  the  policy  of  France  has  been  to  extend  in  all  direc- 
tion her  colonial  interests,  and  in  common  with  her  great  rival, 
England,  whose  policy  she  emulates,  to  gain  possession,  either 
by  force  or  purchase,  of  all  the  prominent  and  controlling  points 
of  the  globe.  At  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  in  the  face  of  Engineer- 
ing difficulties  pronounced  by  English  engineers  insurmountable, 
French  science  cuts  through  from  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Red 
Sea,  and  reconnecting  the  waters  united  by  Rameses  II.  more 
than  a  score  of  centuries  ago,  reopens  this  old  gate  to  the  riches 
of  the  Indies,  and  adds  one  more  glory  to  the  greatness  of 
France.  It  is  the  same  with  Mexico  on  the  west  as  with  Egypt 
on  the  east.  France  seeks  the  control  of  both  these  great  com- 
mercial avenues.  At  the  mouth  of  the  Red  Sea,  another  great 
point  for  the  control  of  that  East  India  route  has  fallen  into  her 
possession,  while  in  the  Corps  Legislatif  a  French  minister 
boasts  "  that  between  Singapore  and  China  an  immense  and 
magnificent  possession  takes  under  our  flag  a  rapid  march  to- 
wards a  brilliant  future." 

The  reasons  which  France  gave  for  the  Mexican  interven- 
tion were  the  merest  bubbles  upon  the  great  ocean  of  other 
interests  which  she  saw  for  her  future  glory,  providing  her 
efforts  were  successful,  as  from  the  then  condition  of  the  great 
Republic  she  had  every  reason  to  believe  they  would  be.  M. 
Billault,  in  the  speech  quoted  above,  says  of  Mexico  :  "  There, 
also,  great  political  vistas  are  opened  to  clear-sighted  eyes ;  di- 
verse interests  come  in  contact,  and  it  is  not  opportune  to  neg- 
lect them." 

Pressed  powerfully  by  the  emissaries  of  the  clergy  to  make 
good  their  cause  in  Mexico  against  the  liberals,  and  actuated  by 
all  the  incentives  to  conquest  which  we  have  detailed,  France 
was  not  dilatory  in  deciding  to  become  an  active  participant  in 
the  enterprise.  We  shall  see  further  on  that  she  could  not 
carry  out  her  views  in  this  unless  Spain  should  concede  to  her 
the  foremost  position,  not  only  as  defender  of  the  faith,  but  in 
respect  to  the  commercial  and  colonial  policy  which  so  largely 
controlled  the  expedition. 

The  objects  which  Spain  had  were,  in  compliance  with  the 
wishes  of  the  Mexican  church,  to  establish  the  old  system,  and, 
if  possible,  to  restore  the  lost  jewels  of  the  Spanish  crown,  by 
the  creation  of  a  monarchy  in  Mexico,  with  the  enthronement 
of  the  Count  of  Flanders,  younger  brother  of  the  heir  of  King 
Leopold  of  Belgium,  who  was  to  espouse  a  Spanish  infanta,  and 
thus,  as  a  Madrid  ministerial  journal  proclaimed  in  December, 


57 

1861 : — "  If  the  throne  of  Mexico  were  not  to  be  occupied  by 
a  Spanish  prince,  it  would  at  least  be  pressed  by  a  Spanish 
princess."  M.  Mon,  in  1861,  before  the  date  of  the  allied 
treaty  of  intervention,  wrote  to  the  Spanish  Ambassador  at 
Paris : — "  The  government  should  not  conceal  that  this  may  be 
a  suitable  occasion  for  awakening  ancient  recollections,  and 
placing  upon  the  throne  of  Mexico  a  prince  of  the  blood  of  the 
Bourbons  more  or  less  intimately  united  to  that  house."  Soon 
following  this  (September  10,  1861)  came  the  Spanish  invita- 
tion to  the  allies  to  join  in  the  intervention.  In  the  unhappy 
revolutionary  condition  of  Spanish  America,  it  has  been  the 
dream  of  Spain  to  restore  her  former  viceroyal  dependencies  to 
her  crown,  or  at  least,  as  we  see  here,  erect  monarchies  under 
the  rule  of  Bourbon  princes.  Spain  has  never  ceased  to  hug 
this  delusion,  and  it  gave  rise  to  the  war  which  for  three  years 
she  lately  waged  unsuccessfully  against  San  Domingo,  under 
the  idea  that  the  erring  child  was  ready  to  receive  again  the 
lash  and  rod  which  for  centuries  made  her  horrors  a  proverb. 
Spain  seizes  the  Chincha  Islands,  Peru  protests,  some  trouble 
occurs  in  the  premises,  and  Spain  demands  $3,000,000  indem- 
nity. Chile  refuses  to  salute  her  flag  and  Spain  declares  war, 
only  to  show  to  mankind  how  weak  the  quicksilver  of  the  New 
World  has  made  her  bones.  She  takes  no  lessons  of  the  intel- 
lectual giant  of  La  Mancha,  and  proves  herself  the  great  Don 
Quixote  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  plans  of  England  were  "essentially  commercial.  She 
sought  no  conquest  in  the  intervention  ;  the  giant  has  grasped 
at  last  all  the  territory  that  his  muscles  can  defend  and  now 
asks  nothing  but  peace.  The  athlete  has  won  his  victories, 
established  his  reputation,  and  now,  in  possession  of  a  long  list 
of  commercial  outposts,  and  a  line  of  island  sentinels  encircling 
and  commanding  the  world,  is  quite  contented  to  be  peaceful, 
monopolize  commerce  and  manufactures  and  grow  fat — quite 
contented  to  send  a  ship  or  two  to  Mexico  to  see  that  the  inter- 
est on  the  British  bonds  be  paid,  and  that  his  commercial  rela- 
tions shall  remain  undisturbed.  She  had  an  interest  also  in 
preventing  Spain  from  again  gaining  control  over  the  Spanish 
Americas,  whereby  the  immense  commerce  of  England  with 
them  might  be  hampered,  as  it  had  been  by  Spanish  policy 
when  she  held  the  power  there  and  for  two  centuries  baffled 
English  attempts  to  gain  a  foothold.  In  the  Spanish  Cortes  it 
was  advocated  that  England  joined  solely  "  to  prevent  Spain 
from  undertaking  it  alone."  Great  Britain  was  not  unwilling 
either  to  plant  a  barrier,  by  establishing,  through  "  moral  sup- 
port," a  stable  government  in  Mexico,  which  might  curb  the 
growth  of  her  young  offspring,  the  great  Kepublic,  who  break- 


58 

fasts  on  Louisiana,  lunches  on  Florida  and  Texas,  dines  on  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  and  the  Pacific  slope,  and,  it  is  feared,  will 
sup  upon  Mexico.  It  is  true  that,  as  a  matter  of  politeness,  the 
United  States  were  invited  ;  but,  as  the  allies  agreed  before  the 
treaty  of  October  31,  1861,  was  signed,  u  Operations  might  be 
commenced  without  awaiting  the  answer  of  the  American  gov- 
ernment." 

The  policy  of  France,  as  was  well  known  and  canvassed  in 
Paris  before  the  sailing  of  the  expedition,  was  the  placing  of 
the  Austrian  Archduke  Maximilian  upon  the  throne  of  Mexico, 
through  the  "  moral  support "  of  the  army.  During  the  month 
of  the  signing  of  the  treaty  of  intervention,  the  French  Minis- 
ter of  Foreign  Affairs,  speaking  of  the  dissolution  of  Mexico, 
said : — "  Such  an  event  cannot  be  a  matter  of  indifference  to 
England ;  and  the  principal  means,  in  our  opinion,  to  prevent 
its  accomplishment,  would  be  the  establishment  in  Mexico  of  a 
regenerative  government  strong  enough  to  arrest  its  internal 
dissolution."  Then,  speaking  of  the  disinterestedness  of  France, 
he  says :  "  Desirous  of  respecting  the  susceptibilities  of  all  par- 
ties, it  would  see  with  pleasure  the  choice  of  the  Mexicans  fall 
upon  a  prince  of  the  house  of  Austria."  M.  Thouvenel  wrote, 
October  15,  1861,  to  M.  Barrot,  French  Ambassador  at  Madrid, 
that,  in  case  of  an  eventual  return  of  a  monarchy  in  Mexico : 
— "  The  Emperor,  foreseeing  such  an  eventuality,  with  perfect 
disinterestedness  resigned  beforehand  all  candidature  for  any 
prince  of  the  imperial  family ;  and  he  did  not  doubt  that  the 
other  two  governm  ents  entertained  similar  dispositions.  Fin  ally, 
that  in  regard  to  the  choice  of  a  dynasty,  in  the  eventuality  in- 
dicated, we  had  no  candidate  to  propose,  but  that  should  the 
fact  happen,  an  Austrian  prince  would  meet  with  our  assent." 
We  shall  see  later  how  Spain,  forced  gradually  into  a  secondary 
position,  instead  of  holding  to  her  primary  one,  yielded  to  her 
great  rival  and  embarked  her  forces  for  home.  It  is  a  settled 
fact  that  France  formed  her  plans  for  the  establishment  of  a 
monarchy  before  the  expedition  was  organized,  and  she  iixed 
upon  the  Archduke  as  the  one  whom  she  would  place  upon  the 
Mexican  throne. 

The  allies  being  agreed,  it  was  necessary  on  the  part  of 
France  to  find  some  good  pretext  for  intervention.  The  best 
one  upon  which  she  could  fix  was  the  debts  due  to  her  from 
Mexico.  But  notice  the  srnallness  of  these.  In  1863  M.  Jules 
Favre  stated  before  the  legislative  Assembly  that  "  Mexico  was 
our  debtor,  according  to  treaty  signed,  for  $750,000.  There 
were  other  claims,  but  they  were  conditional.  The  amount  did 
not  reach  5,000,000  francs  "  ($1,000,000).  There  was  also  the 
Jecker  debt  of  $15,000,000,  which  France  held  in  reserve  for 


59 

her  ultimatum.  We  shall  speak  hereafter  of  the  Jecker  claim, 
which  was  one  of  the  most  scandalous  frauds  ever  perpetrated. 
A  large .  number  of  fraudulent  Mexican  and  Spanish  claims 
were  procured  insertion  into  the  "  English  convention,"  for 
which  Great  Britain  now  urged  a  settlement.  This  diplomatic 
convention  was  for  $5,000,000,  of  which  but  $266,000  belonged 
to  English  subjects. 

Added  to  all  the  reasons  which  Western  Europe  had  for  the 
intervention,  the  clergy  had  brought  all  their  spiritual  and  tem- 
poral ordnance  to  bear  to  effect  it.  They  left  no  power  unem- 
ployed ;  even  their  old  champion,  Santa  Anna,  from  his  place 
of  exile,  St.  Thomas,  still  exerted  his  influence  to  the  utmost  to 
seat  a  King  upon  the  throne  which  the  shade  of  the  Monte- 
zumas  has  cursed  for  any  occupant.  He  wrote,  October  15, 
1861,  to  Estrada  :  "What  you  have  to  do  is  to  remind  the  gov- 
ernments near  which  you  are  accredited  of  your  former 
petitions,  insisting  especially  that  Mexico  cannot  have  a  lasting 
peace  until  the  disease  is  radically  cured,  and  the  only  remedy 
is  the  substitution  of  a  constitutional  empire  for  that  farce 
called  a  republic.  Those  nations  can  select  one  jointly.  Re- 
mind them  also  that  I  am  now  more  than  ever  disposed  to  carry 
out  that  idea,  and  that  I  will  labor  without  ceasing  to  effect  it. 
Still  true  to  his  party,  the  church,  he  hoped  also  to  effect  great 
benefits  "  by  restoring  the  Catholic  religion." 

The  pragmatic  treaty  between  the  allies  was  at  length  signed 
at  London,  October  31,  1861.  Its  stipulations  •  were  peculiar, 
and  showed  the  jealousy  with  which  the  parties  watched  each 
other.  The  second  article  stated  that  "  the  high  contracting 
parties  engage  not  to  seek  for  themselves,  in  the  employment  of 
the  coercive  measures  contemplated  by  the  present  convention, 
any  acquisition  of  territory  or  any  special  advantage,  and  not 
to  exercise  in  the  internal  affairs  of  Mexico  any  influence  of  a 
nature  to  prejudice  the  right  of  the  Mexican  nation  to  choose 
and  to  constitute  freely  the  form  of  its  government."  How 
well  Napoleon  III.  kept  this  treaty,  to  which  he  selenmly  swor'e, 
the  sequel  proves. 

The  Power  which  could  take  the  initiative  in  the  movement, 
and  which  sent  the  largest  force,  was  naturally  the  one  to  direct 
the  future  policy  of  the  country  which  Spain  and  France  went 
to  conquer.  Both  of  these  Powers  made  undue  haste  to  reach 
the  scene  of  their  labors ;  so  great,  indeed,  that  they  neglected 
almost  everything  that  could  tend  to  the  success  of  the  expedi- 
tion. The  allies  were  to  rendezvous  at  Cuba  ;  but  the  Spanish 
contingent  sailed  before  the  French  and  English  arrived,  seized 
upon  the  Mexican  port  of  Vera  Cruz,  and  on  December  14, 
1861.  the  Spanish  commander  issued  a  proclamation  to  the 


60 

people  of  Mexico.  It  had  been  quick  work,  for  the  treaty  of 
of  London  had  been  signed  only  forty-four  days  before,  and 
Spain  had  thus  gained  a  move~on  France.  The  allies  soon  after 
arrived  ;  the  whole  expedition  numbered  in  soldiers,  sailors  and 
marines,  about  19,000.  Of  these  the  English  furnished  only 
about  TOO  marines,  France  about  2,500  effective  soldiers,  and 
Spain  about  6,000,  the  balance  being  sailors.  It  is  a  notable 
fact,  that  the  nation  whose  grievances  were  greatest,  and  which 
had  the  largest  money  debt  due  from  Mexico,  furnished  abso- 
lutely no  regular  forces  for  the  purpose  of  invasion.  It  proves 
that  Article  II.,  which  we  have  quoted  from  the  treaty  of  Lon- 
don, was  inserted  entirely  at  the  dictation  of  England,  and  that 
she  entered  the  expedition  with  the  intention,  so  far  as  lay  in 
her  power,  to  prevent  either  of  her  allies  from  stealing  a  march 
upon  her  and  affecting  her  future  in  the  New  World. 

The  allies  had  landed  without  war  equipments  suitable  to 
the  campaign  which  they  were  about  to  undertake ;  they  were 
unprovided  with  camp  equipage  or  means  of  transportation. 
The  emissaries  of  the  clergy  had  represented  to  them  that  the 
whole  country  was  ready  to  throw  itself  into  their  arms  and  ac- 
cept any  government  which  they  might  dictate ;  but  the  mon- 
archical party  who  were  to  effect  a  revolution  did  nothing ;  on 
the  contrary,  every  day  the  liberal  government  grew  stronger. 
Admiral  Jurien  de  la  Graviere,  seeing  the  falsity  of  the  repre- 
sentations of  the  "  reactionists "  which  had  been  presented  to 
France,  wrote  to  General  Prim,  in  command  of  the  Spanish 
forces,  saying :  "  I  have  always  been  disposed  to  agree  with  you 
in  recognizing  the  necessity  we  are  under  here  to  avoid  embrac- 
ing the  cause  of  the  party  which  composes  the  minority  and 
which  has  opposed  to  it  the  general  opinion  of  the  country." 
France  had  counted  upon  obtaining  supplies  and  mules  from 
the  inhabitants,  but  found  that  they  would  not  sell  them  at  any 
price.  General  Uraga,  commanding  the  liberal  forces,  laid 
waste  the  country  around  them,  and  they  found  almost  the 
whole  Mexican  people  ready  to  receive  them  at  the  point  of  the 
bayonet. 

The  allies  were  thus  subjected  to  great  straits  for  provisions, 
which,  linked  to  the  sickness  of  the  coast  and  the  rapidly  ap- 
proaching season  of  the  "  vomito,"  made  their  cause  look  most 
dismal.  The  Spanish  force  had  already  two  thousand  sick  in 
hospital,  the  English  one  hundred  and  thirty  sick  out  of  seven 
hundred,  and  the  French  were  in  much  the  same  condition. 
They  then  requested  from  the  very  government  which  they 
came  to  overthrow,  the  privilege  of  encamping  their  troops 
upon  the  high  ground  inland,  where,  free  from  the  miasma  of 
the  tierra  caliente,  they  might  open  negotiations  with  a  govern- 


61 

ment  whose  existence  they  had  ignored  before  their  departure 
from  Europe.  It  was  a  humility  before  the  world  which  they 
had  not  anticipated.  They  had  traversed  six  thousand  miles  of 
water  to  find  that  Mexico  had  a  government ;  and  that  she  re- 
quired no  other  form  to  preserve  peace  and  maintain  the  laws 
of  the  land.  They  had  in  Em-ope  proclaimed  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Juarez  was  without  faith,  without  honor ;  that  no 
treaty  could  be  made  with  it  without  guarantees ;  that  it  was  a 
perfect  farce  to  treat  under  any  circumstances  with  such  per- 
jurers ;  and  yet,  the  very  first  article  of  the  "  Treaty  of  La 
Soledad,"  which,  after  the  allied  ultimatum  had  been  sent  for- 
ward, was  the  opening  of  negotiations,  and  which  received  the 
signatures  of  the  representatives  of  the  allied  Powers,  was : — 
First,  "  Admitting  that  the  constitutional  government,  which 
at  present  directs  the  affairs  of  Mexico,  has  manifested  to  the 
commissioners  of  the  allied  Powers  that  it  has  no  need  what- 
ever of  the  assistance  so  kindly  offered  to  the  Mexican  people, 
as  having  at  its  own  disposal  sufficient  elements  of  force  and 
public  opinion  to  maintain  itself  against  all  intestine  revolt,  the 
allies,  therefore,  deem  it  their  duty  to  enter  upon  the  way  of 
treaties  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  up  the  claims  which  they 
have  to  make  in  the  name  of  their  respective  nations." 

In  article  second  the  allies  protest  "  that  they  will  attempt 
nothing  against  the  independence,  sovereignty  and  integrity  of 
the  territory  of  the  republic."  Here  the  allies,  then,  plainly 
admit  that  Mexico  is  perfectly  able  to  manage  her  own  affairs. 
This  treaty  had  arisen  from  the  necessity  of  an  ultimatum  to 
the  Mexican  government  which  should  embody  the  demands 
of  the  allies ;  but  it  was  a  matter  of  no  small  difficulty  for  the 
commissioners  to  agree  upon  the  amounts  to  be  demanded.  It 
was  claimed  on  the  part  of  France  that  each  power  had  a  right 
to  fix  its  own  reclamations,  regardless  of  the  others.  The  truth 
is  that  France  and  'Spain  had,  in  their  attempts  to  overreach 
each  other,  taken  no  time  to  consider  the  amounts  justly  their 
due.  France,  taking  care  to  have  her  demands  cover  all  con- 
tingencies, fixed  her  ultimatum  at  twelve  million  dollars.  The 
immediate  execution  of  the  Jecker  contract,  which  had  been 
made  with  the  government  of  Miramon  when  tottering  to  its 
fall,  was  also  required.  Jecker  was  a  Swiss  banker  who,  after 
passing  through  twenty  years  of  the  vicissitudes  of  Mexican 
commercial  life,  during  which  time  he  was  engaged  in  many 
doubtful  enterprises,  at  length  entered  into  a  contract  with  the 
government  of  Miramon  to  negotiate  a  loan  of  $15,000,000,  out 
of  which,  by  several  very  doubtful  financiering  moves,  he 
reaped  $14,250,000  in  bonds,  and  Miramon  and  his  church 
party  $750,000  cash. 


The  demands  of  the  allies  amounted,  without  the  Jecker 
claim,  to  $40,000,000,  or  four  times  the  yearly  revenue  of 
Mexico.  The  parties  were  surprised  at  each  other's  claims ; 
especially  did  the  Spanish  and  English  commissioners  demur  at 
the  pressing  of  the  Jecker  fraud  into  the  demand,  which  would 
swell  it  to  $55,000,000,  a  sum  which  they  knew  it  was  impos- 
sible for  Mexico  immediately  to  pay.  They  finally  were  so  uncer- 
tain what  to  require,  that  they  sent  forward  the  ultimatum,  which 
was  so  very  vague  in  its  demands  that  the  astute  statesmen  of  Mex- 
ico saw  in  it  the  germs  of  the  confusion  which  was  to  take  place  in 
the  councils  of  their  invaders,  and  acted  accordingly.  Their 
object  was  to  gain  time,  which  was  admirably  accomplished  in 
one  of  the  articles  of  the  "  Treaty  of  La  Soledad  "  above  men- 
tioned. All  negotiations  were  there  postponed  until  the  15th 
of  April,  1862. 

When  the  news  reached  France  of  the  capture  of  Yera 
Cruz  by  the  Spaniards,  and  the  march  which  they  had  stolen 
on  the  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  a  reinforcement  of  four  thou- 
sand five  hundred  men  was  immediately  dispatched  to  Mexico, 
under  command  of  General  Lorencez,  a  brave  and  able  officer, 
who  was,  upon  his  arrival,  to  assume  command  of  the  whole 
French  contingent.  General  Prim,  upon  the  unexpected  ap- 
pearance of  the  French  reinforcements,  saw  Spain  forced  into 
the  secondary  position,  which  crushed  all  the  finely  prepared 
theories  with  which  Spain  had  deluded  herself.  He  therefore 
at  once  began  to  oppose  objections  to  the  claims  which  France 
demanded  of  Mexico,  being  especially  loud  in  his  protests 
against  the  infamous  Jecker  claim,  to  which  the  minister  from 
England  was  also  bitterly  opposed.  Another  very  serious  cause 
of  complaint,  and  which,  under  the  circumstances,  was  magni- 
fied into  a  pretence  for  the  withdrawal  of  Spain  and  England 
from  the  coalition,  was  the  presence  in  the  French  camp  of  Al- 
monte, the  "  infamous  Marquez,"  and  others  of  the  monarchi- 
cal or  "  reactionary  "  party,  who  had,  although  outlawed,  en- 
tered Mexican  territory  under  protection  of  the  French  flag, 
and  commenced  issuing  "  pronunciamientos "  and  inflammatory 
^appeals  to  the  people  after  the  usual  style  of  inciting  a  Mexican 
revolution.  Miramon  had  also  landed  at  Vera  Cruz,  but  the 
English  threatened  to  arrest  him  for  his  wholesale  robbery  of 
their  Legation,  before  mentioned,  and  he  was  obliged  to  flee  to 
Havana. 

The  constitutional  government  demanded  that  the  traitors 
and  outlaws  under  protection  of  the  French  flag  should  be 
^iven  up  or  leave  the  country  ;  but  the  French  commander  re- 
fused so  just  a  demand.  He  was  little  inclined  to  give  up  the 
leaders  of  the  church  party,  whose  cause  his  master,  the  French 


63 

Emperor,  had  espoused.  General  Prim  and  Sir  Charles  Wyke 
considered  that  these  demands  were  perfectly  just,  and  in- 
sisted that  President  Juarez  had  a  right  to  consider  the  reten- 
tion of  these  outlaws  as  a  declaration  of  war  against  the  govern- 
ment. M.  de  Saligny  protested  that  General  Almonte  had  the 
confidence  of  the  French  government,  and  that  he  could  not  be 
expelled  from  their  camp.  The  controversy  grew  warm ;  linked 
with  the  exorbitant  exactions  of  France  in  the  ultimatum,  the 
Spanish  and  English  commissioners,  foreseeing  the  result  which 
proved  them  to  have  been  duped  from  the  origin  of  the  expe- 
dition, retired  to  Yera  Cruz  and  embarked  their  troops  for 
Europe  in  April,  1862.  France  was  thus  left  to  play  out  the 
game,  in  whose  primary  moves  she  had  been  so  successful,  in 
accordance  with  the  course  which  had  been  fixed  upon  frem  the 
inception  of  the  enterprise,  v/"^ 

The  fourth  article  of  the  "  Treaty  of  La  Soledad  "  stipu- 
lated that,  "  in  order  that  it  may  not  in  the  most  remote  de- 
gree be  believed  that  the  allies  have  signed  these  preliminaries 
in  order  to  obtain  the  passage  of  the  fortified  positions  garri- 
soned by  the  Mexican  army,  it  is  stipulated  that,  in  the  unfor- 
tunate event  of  the  negotiations  being  broken  off,  the  forces  of 
the  allies  will  retire  from  the  said  towns,  and  will  place  them- 
selves in  the  line  that  is  beyond  the  said  fortifications  on  the 
Yera  Cruz  side  ;  Paso  Ancho  on  the  Cordova  road,  and  Paso  de 
Ovejas  on  that  of  Jalapa,  being  the  principal  extreme  points." 

In  gross  violation  of  the  treaty,  the  French  refused  to  com- 
ply with  this  article,  under  plea  that  the  sick  in  hospital  would 
be  forced  to  remain  in  Orizaba,  and  there  be  exposed  to  danger. 
Totally  ignoring  all  honorable  action,  they  retained  possession 
of  this  powerful  stronghold  which  it  might  have  cost  them 
thousands  of  their  best  troops  to  capture,  if  we  may  judge  from 
the  opposition  they  afterwards  encountered  in  their  march  to- 
wards the  capital.  The  unhealthiness  of  the  Yera  Cruz  dis- 
trict, in  which,  had  they  returned,  their  forces  might  have  been 
almost  annihilated,  was  another  reason  which  no  doubt  caused 
them  to  break  faith  with  the  Mexicans.  The  plea  which  they 
urged  was  the  merest  subterfuge.  Even  General  Prim  pressed 
them  to  fall  back  beyond  the  first  lines  of  fortifications  which 
they  had  passed  under  solemn  treaty,  and  through  the  generos- 
ity which  the  Mexican  government  evinced  in  behalf  of  the 
sanitary  condition  of  the  invading  force.  He  assured  them 
that  the  sick  would  be  as  well  cared  for  by  the  Mexicans  as  they 
would  be  at  any  hospital  in  Paris.  All  effort  was,  however, 
useless ;  inveighing  as  the  French  did  against  Mexican  perfidy, 
their  first  act  upon  the  soil  was  as  perfidious  as  any  they  came 
to  avenge. 


64 

The  church  party,  in  the  French  camp,  now  threw  off  the 
mask.  Almonte  immediately  issued  a  pronunciamiento  to  the 
Mexicans,  proclaiming  himself  Chief  of  the  nation,  and  gath- 
ered under  his  standard  a  few  of  the  predatory  bands  which, 
under  the  fostering  care  of  the  clergy,  had  never  ceased  to 
deluge  the  country  in  blood.  Almonte  issued  paper  money, 
dictated  his  dispatches,  created  and  dismissed  generals,  and 
maintained,  under  French  protection,  the  complete  semblance 
of  a  government  in  full  operation.  The  French  thus  commenced 
to  "pacify  the  country." 

General  Lorencez,  who  had  replaced  Admiral  Jurien  in 
command  of  the  French  forces,  now  advanced  towards  Mexico 
to  afford  that  "  moral  support "  to  the  Mexicans  which  they  so 
much  desired.  He  anticipated,  through  the  representations  of 
the  ch"urch  party,  that  he  had  only  to  march  inland  to  be  wel- 
comed as  the  savior  and  liberator  of  the  country  ;  that  the  peo- 
ple who  in  one  year,  1858,  had  fought  in  civil  warfare  seventy- 
one  engagements,  out  of  which  eight  were  pitched  battles,  would 
rise  en  masse  to  welcome  a  foreign  invading  force,  and  that  the 
phantom  of  a  constitutional  government  under  Juarez  would 
vanish  before  him.  Surely  the  French  Emperor  cannot  be  so 
poor  a  judge  of  human  nature,  or  imagine  there  exists  so  vile 
a  people  on  the  face  of  this  earth  that  they  will  not  defend 
themselves  under  any  circumstances  from  foreign  invasion  ;  and 
yet  how  closely  France  has  hugged  this  delusion  for  several 
years  past  may 'be  seen  by  the  thousands  of  French  troops  she 
has  buried  under  the  soil  of  Mexico,  and  the  millions  of  trea- 
sure she  has  wasted  in  the  pursuit  of  an  idea  which  it  is  hardly 
her  destiny  to  realize. 

We  need  not  detail  the  defeat  which  the  brave  General 
Lorencez  received  at  Puebla  on  the  5th  May,  1862,  the  heroic 
fortitude  with  which  he  sustained  his  little  army  in  the  intrench- 
ments  of  Orizaba  after  his  retreat  from  Puebla,  and  during  the 
interval  in  which  he  was  obliged  to  await  reinforcements  from 
France.  The  French  did  all  that  brave  soldiers  and  a  good 
general  could  do  with  such  a  force  against  Mexico  united  in- 
stead of  divided. 

The  news  of  the  defeat  of  Lorencez  and  the  terrible  slaughter 
of  the  French  troops  before  Puebla  was  a  shock  which  France 
was  but  poorly  prepared  to  receive.  It  was  suddenly  discovered 
that  the  French  troops  had  something  more  than  a  promenade 
to  make  in  Mexico.  French  honor  now  came  in  as  one  of  the 
primary  elements  of  the  problem.  General  Forey  was  dis- 
patched with  large  reinforcements,  and  with  orders  to  assume 
entire  command,  both  political  and  military,  of  the  expedition. 

Upon  the  arrival  of  General  Forey  at  Orizaba,  with  the 


65 


reinforcements,  he  also  discovered  that  he  would  be  long  de- 
tained at  that  point  before  he  could  place  his  forces  in  such 
marching  order  as  might  be  required  for  the  "  pacification  of 
the  country."  He  issued  a  proclamation  from  Orizaba  to  the 
Mexican  people.  Said  he :  "  In  the  name  of  the  Emperor  I 
declared  to  you  solemnly  what  I  again  repeat  to  you  to-day — 
namely,  that  the  soldiers  of  France  have  not  come  here  to  im- 
pose upon  you  a  government."  *  *  *  "  That  they  have  no 
other  mission  but  that  of  consulting  the  national  wish  as  to  the 
form  of  government  it  may  desire.  What  would  France  ex- 
claim to-day  if,  against  her  united  people,  the  nations  of  Europe 
were  to  march  upon  Paris  with  such  a  manifesto?  Now, 
either  General  Forey  was  deceiving  the  Mexican  people  or  dis- 
obeying his  orders,  for  the  Emperor,  in  his  famous  letter  of 
instructions  in  July,  1862,  wrote :  "  The  demands  of  our  policy, 
the  interest  of  our  industry  and  our  commerce  all  impose  upon 
us  the  duty  of  marching  upon  Mexico,  there  boldly  planting  our 
flag  and  establishing  perhaps  a  monarchy,  if  not  incompatible 
with  the  national  sentiment  of  the  country,  but  at  least  a  gov- 
ernment that  will  promise  some  stability.5'  Compare  these  in- 
structions with  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Em- 
peror to  General  Lorencez,  in  ]  862  :  "  It  is  contrary  to  my 
interest,  my  origin  and  my  principles  to  impose  any  kind  of 
government  whatever  on  the  Mexican  people.  They  may  freely 
choose  that  which  suits  them  best." 

Almost  a  year  after  the  defeat  of  Lorencez  the  French 
forces  under  Marshal  Forey  again  sat  down  before  Puebla,  and 
with  forty  thousand  men,  assisted  by  the  renegades  and  bandits 
who,  under  Almonte  and  Marquez,  added  their  strength  to  the 
French  troops,  commenced  a  siege  which  was  to  take  rank  in 
heroic  defence  with  Numantia,  Saguntium  and  Saragoza.  Gen- 
eral Ortega  commanded  the  city,  assisted  by  able  generals  and 
able  engineers,  such  as  Generals  Paz,  Colombres  and  others,  to 
whom  very  much  of  the  credit  of  the  defence  belongs.  Inch  by 
inch  the  desperate  defenders  of  the  city  contended  with  the  as- 
sailants ;  barricade  after  barricade  sprung  up  before  the  French, 
and  every  foot  of  ground  gained  was  at  the  cost  of  a  score  of 
brave  men ;  whole  blocks  of  buildings,  with  their  defenders, 
were  undermined  and  blown  into  the  air.  It  was  only  after  the 
most  desperate  onslaught  that  the  assailants  could  make  any 
impression  upon  the  works.  For  two  months  the  French  rained 
an  unceasing  fire  upon  the  devoted  city  and  its  convents,  which 
had  been  turned  into  forts  ;  for  two  months  the  Mexicans  gave 
their  foes  that  "  warm  welcome"  which  they  had  been  promised 
by  the  clergy  before  they  left  France.  The  city  at  length  suc- 
cumbed to  the  indomitable  valor  of  the  "  pacificators,"  and 
5 


66 

Marshal  Forey  soon  after  appeared  before  the  capital,  and  en- 
tering it,  took  possession  June  10,  1863. 

In  possession  of  the  city,.  Marshal  Forey  immediately  took 
measures  to  allow  the  Mexicans  to  select  the  form  of  govern- 
ment that  pleased  them.  He  appointed  thirty -five  notables, 
twenty-two  of  whom  were  former  members  of  the  reactionary 
government,  and  most  of  them  of  the  junta  of  Miramon  in 
1863 ;  all  of  them,  however,  of  the  church  party.  The  nota- 
bles immediately  elected  a  regency  of  three,  called  the  "  Su- 
preme Executive  Power,"  designated  to  them  by  General  Forey 
as  men  who  would  meet  his  views.  These  were  General  Al- 
monte, General  Salas,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Mexico ;  they  in 
turn  elected  a  new  assembly  of  notables,  two  hundred  and 
fifteen  in  number. 

The  programme  being  all  arranged,  the  Eegency  met  on  the 
7th  July.  The  principal  mountebanks  and  jugglers  being  all 
in  their  places,  up  went  the  curtain  and  the  farce  of  Maximilian 
I.,  or  the  moral  pacification  of  Mexico  was  displayed  before  the 
world.  The  Regency  named  the  notables,  and  then  chose  the 
form  of  government,  which  was  to  be  an  empire.  With  won- 
derful unanimity  they  elected  the  Archduke  Maximilian  to  the 
throne.  The  notables,  all  good  representatives  of  the  reaction- 
ary party,  confirmed  the  election,  and,  in  a  proclamation  to  the 
Mexican  people,  stated  their  reasons  for  this  proceeding  :  "  For 
forty  years,"  said  they,  "  Mexico  has  been  governed  by  brigands, 
vagabonds  and  incendiaries."  They  had  a  wonderful  loss  of 
memory  at  that  moment,  for  they  forgot  that  for  nearly  the 
whole  period  it  had  been  their  party  which  had  ruled,  and  that 
some  of  the  very  members  who  authorized  this  proclamation 
had  committed  some  of  the  most  glaring  outrages  which  have 
blackened  Mexican  annals. 

Thus  the  empire,  after  a  terrible  struggle,  had  birth  by  the 
Caesarian  process,  and  the  next  act  was  to  ofter  to  Maximilian 
the  crown  which  the  pacified  Mexican  people  so  willingly  con- 
ferred. For  this  purpose  a  commission  was  dispatched  to  Aus- 
tria ;  but  the  farce  of  allowing  the  Mexican  people  to  select 
their  own  form  of  government  had  been  so  boldly  and  yet  so 
stupidly  enacted  that,  in  the  face  of  the  public  opinion  of  the 
world,  Maximilian  could  not  accept  the  crown  thus  offered  to 
him,  unless,  to  smooth  over  this  most  glaring  outrage  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  a  vote — a  popular  vote — might  be  taken, 
whereby  it  might  be  demonstrated  to  the  nation^  that  Mexico 
was  indeed  pacified  ;  that  it  had  welcomed  its  invaders ;  that 
there  had  in  fact  been  no  siege  of  Puebla,no  bloody  defeats  and 
equally  bloody  victories;  that  all  the  heroes  who  fought  under 
the  constitutional  banner  of  Juarez  were  bandits  and  outlaws, 


67 

and  all  Christians,  such  as  Miramon,  Almonte,  Marquez,  Mi- 
randa, Mejia,  and  other  "  conservatives,"  who  had  for  fifty 
years  caused  the  country  to  reel  in  an  intoxication  of  blood, 
were  the  only  people  who  were  tinctured  with  civilization,  and 
who  were  indeed  the  lords  of  the  soil ;  all  who,  with  "  liberty 
and  reform  "  on  their  banners,  and  who  would  not  vote  for  the 
new  regime,  being  outcasts,  unworthy  of  consideration,  except 
through  the  constant  and  arduous  employ  of  from  forty  to  fifty 
thousand  French  troops  to  keep  them  from  overturning  the 
peaceable  and  unoffending  clergy  who  represented  the  cause  of 
"  law  and  order." 

Maximilian  said  to  the  commissioners,  on  the  3d  of  Octo- 
ber, 1863,  "  Mv  acceptance  of  the  offered  throne  must  therefore 
depend  upon  the  result  of  the  vote  of  the  whole  country."  But 
the  only  way  to  obtain  this  vote  was  to  make  every  Mexican 
citizen  deposit  his  suffrage  under  the  gleam  of  a  French  bayo- 
net. It  was  reliably  calculated  by  M.  Malaspine,  editor  of 
"  L'Opmion  Rationale,"  that  when  General  Bazaine  was  in- 
structed in  August  to  take  the  vote,  seven-eighths  of  the  popula- 
tion of  Mexico  and  twenty-nine  thirtieths  of  its  territory  were  be- 
yond the  lines  of  French  protection,  while  the  territory  which 
they  occupied  was  overrun  by  seventy-two  hostile  guerilla  bands, 
averaging  from  seventy  to  three  hundred  men  each.  General 
Bazaine  thus  found  it  necessary  to  organize  his  forces  into  sep- 
arate divisions,  and  make  what  has  wittily  been  called  u  an 
electioneering  tour  in  favor  of  Prince  Maximilian."  The  elec- 
tion was  held,  the  dullest  brain  may  imagine  how.  The  country 
gave  its  popular  vote  for  the  Austrian  archduke,  who  soon  after 
satisfied  with  the  result,  ascended  the  throne  of  pacified  Mex- 
ico. Thus  the  cause  for  which  the  Mexican  people  had  for  a 
half  century  battled  and  bravely  won  was  thrown  back  years 
into  the  past.  The  Mexican  Congress  protested  against  the 
glaring  outrage  which  foisted  upon  them  a  monarchical  govern- 
ment through  the  aid  of  fifty  thousand  bayonets. 

France  had  at  length  reached  a  point  where  it  was  necessary 
to  adopt  a  policy  of  government  suitable  to  the  country  and  its 
future  development ;  they  analyzed  and  found  the  principles  of 
the  party  whose  cause  they  had  espoused  totally  incompatible 
with  the  wants  of  Mexico,  and  in  conformity  with  their  consist- 
ency of  action  throughout  the  invasion,  they  now  espoused  the 
principles  of  the  very  party  which  had  been  so  boldly  battling 
td  hold  their  country  intact.  General  Bazaine  came  to  an  open 
rupture  with  the  church  party,  which  had  betrayed  the  country 
into  the  hands  of  France.  Their  schemes,  their  guilty  hopes, 
had  borne  their  legitimate  fruits  ;  the  clergy  had  expected  that 
progress  would  be  turned  back  upon  itself,  and  that  the  old  sys- 


tern  would  be  established,  whereby  the  church  might  usurp  all 
power,  all  wealth,  and  all  emoluments.  The  French  com- 
mander, with  a  keen  insight  into  the  troubles  which  environed 
the  position,  was  forced,  by  maintaining  the  policy  of  the  liberals, 
who  had  sequestrated  the  church  property,  to  refuse  its  restora- 
tion to  the  clergy.  Thus  the  invaders  came  to  an  open  rupture 
with  the  bishops,  and  virtually  acknowledged  the  justness  of 
the  cause  for  which  the  constitutionalists  were  battling.  The 
archbishop  of  Mexico  was  removed  from  the  regency  to  which 
Marshal  Forey  had  appointed  him.  After  some  correspondence 
between  the  archbishop  and  General  Bazaine,  the  prelates  of 
Mexico  issued  a  joint  protest,  which  is  in  every  view  a  remark- 
able document.  Opening  with  a  reproach  to  the  French  for 
having  betrayed  their  holy  Catholic  faith,  which  the  Emperor 
Napoleon  III.  had  promised  them  should  be  restored  in  all  its 
former  rights  and  privileges,  they  protest  at  the  treatment  it 
has  received,  and  state  that  it  suffers  "  a  compulsion  in  its  most 
holy  rights  and  in  its  canonical  liberties  entirely  equal  to  that 
which  it  suifered  when  the  authorities  emanating  from  the 
Plan  of  Ayutla  (the  liberals)  were  in  power."  "  Then,"  said 
they,  "  the  government  frankly  manifested  its  principles  ;  it  ap- 
peared to  the  view  of  this  Catholic  people  in  the  character  of 
an  opposition  armed  with  a  power  against  religion  and  the 
churcn ;  and  the  latter,  as  a  victim  immolated  by  the  govern- 
ment, defended  itself  heroically,  suffering  the  consequences  of 
a  terrible  persecution,  and  perishing  nobly  for  the  holy  cause  of 
justice.  Then  the  prelates  leaving  our 

country,  carried  with  them  the  hope  that  the  first  political 
change  which  should  take  place  would  bring  with  it  a  complete 
moral  and  religious  restoration.  To-day,  returning  after  such  a 
change,  to  be  present  at  the  immolation  of  all  our  principles, 
the  consummation  of  the  ruin  of  the  church,  we  have  received 
a  blow  such  as  is  only  received  at  the  death  of  all  human  hope. 
Then  the  church  had  only  one  enemy — the  government  that 
persecuted  it.  To-day  it  has  two — that  same  government  which 
still  lives  in  the  country,  which  still  has  resources  of  its  own ; 
an  army  that  contends  hand  to  hand  for  every  foot  of  ground, 
and  that  counts  upon  the  aid  of  its  principles  and  interests  in 
the  enemy's  camp,  and  in  the  capital ;  an  enemy  whose  first 
occupation  it  is  to  carry  into  effect  the  destructive  plans  of  its 
opponents,  in  religious  and  moral  affairs. 

Then  we  received  a  blow  from  the  hands  of  an  open  enemy ;  to- 
day we  are  attacked  by  those  who  call  themselves  friends  of 
the  church  and  protectors  of  its  liberties.         *         *        * 
Then  we  could  publish  our  protests  and  our  pastorals ;  to-day 
the  press  is  bound  in  such  a  manner  that  it  is  only  open  to  those 


who  favor  the  intervention."  The  whole  document  is  a  wail  of 
woe  at  the  betrayal  of  their  hopes  by  those  into  whose  hands 
they  had  betrayed  their  country.  Seldom  in  history  can  we  find  a 
document  so  replete  with  the  exasperation  of  disappointment. 
They  acknowledge,  too,  finally,  that  the  wars  waged  by  the  lib- 
erals are  only  against  the  opposition  of  the  church  to  "  liberty 
and  reform."  The  clergy  had  thrown  their  bope  before  the 
lions  of  Europe,  and  now  they  were  doomed  to  see  it  despoiled 
of  its  meat  as  strip  after  strip  it  was  wrenched  off.  They  had  invi- 
ted the  invader  to  oppose  the  constitutional  reforms  of  the  lib- 
erals, only  to  see  them,  when  firmly  in  power,  espouse  those  re- 
forms. It  was  a  case  of  the  most  glaring  inconsistency  on  all 
sides.  France  had  proclaimed  that  she  espoused  the  cause  of 
the  "  reactionists  ;"  she  no  sooner  reached  the  capital  than  she 
overturned  the  cause  she  had  espoused,  and  espoused  the  cause 
she  had  overturned,  while  at  the  same  moment,  with  50,000 
troops,  she  battled  against  the  brave  defenders  of  these  very 
principles  which  she  now  inscribed  upon  the  code  of  Mexico. 
It  was  a  bold  proof  that  it  was  might  not  right  which  dictated 
the  invasion,  and  that  the  ruler  of  France  and  his  advisers  were 
either  in  a  most  lamentable  state  of  ignorance  in  reference  to 
the  history  and  political  condition  of  the  country,  or  else  they 
warred  for  an  idea,  and  chose  to  waste  some  of  the  best  blood 
of  France  upon  a  soil  which  could  yield  them  no  return  for  the 
prodigal  outlay,  either  in  honor,  justice,  glory  or  wealth,  but 
which  might  fix  an  indelible  stain  upon  that  glorious  escutcheon 
which  is  almost  as  much  the  pride  of  the  United  States  as  of 
France. 

On  the  18th  October,  1864,  the  Roman  Pontiff  addressed  a 
letter  to  Maximilian,  urging  him  to  agree  with  the  Mexican 
clergy ;  but  Maximilian,  in  his  instructions  to  his  Minister  of 
Justice,  December  27th,  1864,  totally  disregards  it,  proposing 
on  the  contrary  to  declare  religious  tolerance,  and  confirm  the 
reform  laws  "of  Juarez.  This  was  followed  on  the  26th 
February,  1865,  by  a  decree  confirming  these  instructions;  the 
protests  of  the  clergy  being  useless.  These  measures  had  the 
effect  upon  the  Mexican  mind  to  bind  them  more  firmly  to  the 
constitution  of  1857,  and  to  support  the  liberals  upholding  it, 
who  were  thus  by  their  very  invaders  adjudged  to  be  fighting 
for  the  right. 

But  Maximilian  is  enthroned,  and  we  find  it  is  necessary 
for  France  to  retain  50,000  troops  to  sustain  him  where  the 
suffrages  of  the  people  have  placed  him.  It  has  now  become  a 
matter  of  pride  to  the  French  ruler  to  at  least,  if  he  cannot 
consolidate  the  monarchy  which  his  "moral  pacification" 
/scheme  has  erected,  to  continue  the  farce  with  the  hope  that 


70 

some  lucky  turn  of  fortune  may  enable  him  to  reap  the  honors 
of  a  drawn  game,  where  the  liberals  play  as  well  with  their 
knights  and  pawns  as  Napoleon  with  his  king  and  bishops. 

Napoleon  III.  made  a  great  mistake  in  the  character  of  the 
people  whose  territory  he  invaded.  He  should  have  taken  a 
lesson  from  Napoleon  I.,  whose  genius  was  not  sufficient  to  m- 
pose  upon  Spain  a  government  with  King  Joseph  at  its  head. 
The  invasion  of  Spain  by  the  great  Napoleon  at  the  opening 
of  this  century,  was  wonderfully  similar  in  all  its  phases  to  the 
invasion  of  Mexico  by  his  nephew  in  1862 ;  the  same  appoint- 
ment of  notables,  and  the  same  farce  of  imposing  a  foreign 
prince  upon  the  people.  The  period  of  occupation  of  the  coun- 
tries will  doubtless  correspond  very  nearly.  Said  Talleyrand  to 
the  great  Emperor,  "  Your  Majesty  will  never  hear  the  last  shot 
fired  in  a  war  with  a  people  who  have  fought  eight  hundred 
years  with  the  Moors."  Mexico,  from  the  hearts  of  the  liberals, 
echoes  the  same  sentiment  in  reference  to  its  own  soil.  The 
French  monarch  has  forgotten  that  when  France  invaded  the 
Peninsula  Spain  had  but  eleven  million  inhabitants,  that  she 
was  in  immediate  contact  with  France,  which  might  easily  sup- 
ply her  invading  forces  with  means  to  prosecute  the  war,  or  to 
rapidly  reinforce  any  threatened  point,  and  that,  notwithstand- 
ing she  poured  some  of  her  largest  veteran  armies  into  Spain, 
she  could  not  conquer  her.  If  France  thus  failed  to  conquer  a 
kingdom  lying  at  her  very  door,  how  could  she  hope  to  subdue 
a  republic  six  thousand  miles  distant,  with  a  territory  nearly 
four  and  one-half  times  as  large,  and  which  contains  eight  mil- 
lions of  people,  united  in  a  common  cause  against  her,  and 
possessing  a  country  eminently  adapted  to  the  partisan  style 
of  warfare  which  so  harassed  and  cut  up  the  troops  of  France 
in  the  Peninsula  ?  In  topographical  features  which  might  en- 
able partisan  bands  to  maintain  a  destructive  warfare,  Mexico 
is  eminently  like  Spain.  Her  mountain  ridges,  her  waterless 
deserts,  her  fastnesses,  her  numerous  large  towns  and  cen- 
ters of  population — which  cannot  all  be  held  at  once  by  an  in- 
vading force — render  her  capable  of  a  brilliant  defence — and 
capable,  too,  to  work  out  her  own  salvation  against  any  num- 
ber of  troops  which  Napoleon  may  be  able  to  bring  against 
her  in  the  present  political  condition  of  Europe. 

We  believe  that  all  that  France  ever  planned  in  reference 
to  the  future  development  of  Mexico  will  be  realized,  but  not 
through  the  influence  of  any  invading  Power ;  for,  to  hold  and 
direct  the  energies  of  Mexico  in  a  monarchical  channel,  you 
must  change  the  political  condition  of  the  United  States,  and 
also  its  form  of  government.  It  would  take  a  standing  army  of 
one  hundred  thousand  foreign  troops  in  Mexico  to  crush  out  the 


71 


leaven  of  dissensions  which  would  constantly  impregnate  the 
people  from  contact  with  us  ;  and,  as  we  are  ceaselessly  advanc- 
ing westward  with  our  civilization,  and  building  up  powerful 
States  in  our  march,  the  effort  to  establish  upon  our  frontiers  a 
monarchy,  under  the  shadow  of  any  European  flag,  must,  by 
the  very  abrasion  of  progressive  ideas,  fall  in  its  own  tracks, 
which  denote  a  backward  instead  of  an  advancing  pace  in  the 
order  of  the  world's  march  westward. 

We  believe  that  there  is  a  great  law  regulating  the  progress 
of  the  human  race,  and  that,  like  the  spheres  which  whirl 
round  it,  it  has  its  orbit  of  revolution.  May  not  its  constant 
march  westward  gather  to  its  folds  an  ever  increasing  civiliza- 
tion, as  its  resistless  activity  develops  and  calls  forth  a  steady 
growth  of  brain  force?  Does  not  this  advance  of  the  human 
element,  forcing  before  it  the  great  wave  of  intellectual  im- 
provement, indicate  that  in  future  ages,  when  in  its  course  it  has 
swept  across  the  Pacific  and  impinged  upon  the  eastern  Asiatic 
border,  that  the  worn-out  nationalities  there  found  must  move 
westward  towards  Europe — westward,  westward,  until,  in  the 
ceaseless  revolution,  they  meet  our  American  nationalities — 
then  as  dead  as  Asia  is  to-day — and,  with  a  civilization  and  im- 
provement which  will  have-  gained  immensely  in  its  revolution 
of  the  world,  force  us  in  our  turn  before  its  irresistible  onward 
march  ?  The  effects  of  such  invasions  as  that  of  France  in 
Mexico  may  impede,  but  scarcely  exert  a  perceptible  influence 
upon,  the  course  of  the  race. 

In  the  French  expedition  the  French  Emperor  has  played 
one  of  those  far-reaching  games  so  characteristic  of  him.  A 
man  who  could  reach  the  throne  of  France  as  he  did  must  be 
blessed  with  a  wonderfully  good  fortune,  backed  by  a  brain  that 
has  a  deep  insight  into  the  fortuitous  phases  of  any  problem 
which  may  interest  him  ;  but  in  this  Mexican  problem  he  made 
a  very  excusable  mistake,  which  altered  its  conditions  entirely ; 
this  was,  the  predetermined  result  which,  in  common  with 
Europe,  he  affixed  to  our  civil  war.  It  was,  from  the  very  out- 
break of  the  rebellion,  accepted  as  a  foregone  conclusion  that 
the  United  States  were  divided  never  more  to  be  united.  Rea- 
soning from  all  precedent,  they  had  every  right  to  draw  this 
conclusion.  It  was  supposed  that  the  South,  following  the  ten- 
dency of  the  institutions  which  existed  there  in  1860,  would 
naturally  gather  the  dominant  classes  into  a  powerful  aristo- 
cratic faction,  which,  in  consonance  with  their  education  and 
natural  tendencies,  would  form  a  limited  monarchical  govern- 
ment. It  could  not  have  been  entirely  outside  of  the  vista  of 
Napoleon  III.  that  in  such  an  event  the  South  might  have  found 
it  to  her  advantage  to  link  herself  to  Maximilian,  and  form  with 
Mexico  a  great  empire,  of  which  the  latter  country  would  have 


72 

been  a  dependency.  France  could  then  have  more  than  enjoyed 
the  reality  of  one  of  her  dreams  in  reference  to  her  Mexican 
conquest — not  only  the  obtaining  of  cotton  for  herself,  but  al- 
most its  entire  monopoly.  It  was  also  a  very  wise  plan  during 
our  great  contest  to  be  within  easy  reach  at  the  bursting  of  the 
Western  stars.  There  were  mighty  and  valuable  fragments  to 
be  gathered  up  in  such  an  event.  They  could  not  see  the  result 
through  the  convex  achromatic  lenses  of  liberty,  in  the  nine- 
teenth century;  but  chose  rather  to  look  at  the  movement 
tlirough  the  concave  goggles  which  monarchical  Europe  puts 
on  whenever  she  looks  at  anything  republican  in  the  Old  or 
New  World. 

It  is  worthy  of  consideration  that,  in  April,  1861,  the  first 
gun  thundered"  against  Fort  Sumter ;  in  June  the  French  le- 
gation pushed  the  liberal  Mexican  government  to  the  wall ;  in 
October  the  allied  treaty  of  intervention  was  signed ;  and,  in 
the  December  following,  Yera  Cruz  was  occupied  by  a  part  of 
the  allied  force. 

We  are  officially  informed  that  the  French  troops  will  all 
be  removed  from  the- Mexican  soil  by  November,  1867;  "the 
first  being  intended  to  depart  in  November,  1866."  There  is 
an  immensity  between  intention  and  action.  We  do  believe 
that  the  French  troops  will  be  withdrawn,  providing  there  are 
no  further  troubles  in  the  United  States  before  the  time  fixed  ; 
for  the  French  people  are  thoroughly  disgusted  with  this  Mexi- 
can expedition,  which  draws  so  heavily  both  upon  their  pockets 
and  their  honor.  There  are,  however,  elements  in  the  problem 
which  place  the  Emperor  Napoleon  in  a  most  embarrassing 
position — the  honor  of  France  and  the  prestige  of  his  constant 
successes,  which,  if  here  broken,  will  cut  loose  the  ties  which 
have  bound  his  name  with  so  much  firmness  to  that  country. 
The  French  people  have  long  been  dazzled  with  the  bright  sun 
of  the  house  of  Bonaparte ;  once  let  them  clear  their  eyes  of 
this  blindness,  and  there  is  little  doubt  what  direction  the  er- 
ratic and  highly  organized  brain  of  France  would  take.  Heaven 
was  in  a  prodigal  mood  when  it  shaped  French  intellect ;  and 
if  in  1789  it  surged  in  one  wild  wave  beyond  the  level  which 
liberty  should  occupy,  it  did  no  more  than  other  nations  have 
done  before  it ;  the  reflux  naturally  brought  back  monarchy, 
but  the  tide  vibrates  still  in  its  course  to  a  proper  equilibrium. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops  does  not  necessarily 
involve  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  population  in  Mexico. 
The  French  troops,  if  naturalized  there,  may  become  Mexican 
troops  under  the  banner  of  Maximilian.  The  time  also  of  many 
of  the  French  regiments  may  expire  before  November,  1867, 
and  it  is  not  a  matter  of  compulsion  that  they  should  return 
home.  Any  foreigner  may  in  Mexico  to-day,  or  next  year,  en- 


T6 


list  under  the  Mexican  flag  of  Maximilian ;  and  although  he 
might  have  an  army  of  thirty  to  forty  thousand  Frenchmen  in 
his  service,  there  might  not  be  a  single  one  of  its  soldiers  borne 
upon  the  military  roll  of  France.  We  believe,  therefore,  that 
whatever  troops  are  withdrawn  will  be  very  few,  and  only  those 
who  cannot  be  persuaded  to  remain  in  the  service  of  Maximilian. 
This  is  something  to  which  we  could  not  take  exception,  for 
France  could  justly  say  she  no  longer  held  a  direct  interest  in 
the  expedition,  however  large  a  quantity  of  funds  she  might 
furnish  to  support  the  bogus  monarchy  against  the  stalwart 
blows  of  the  heroic  liberals. 

France  labors  under  another  difficulty  :  there  is  no  reason- 
able course  which  she  can  pursue  to  obtain  indemnity  for  the 
immense  outlays  which  she  has  made  in  this  expedition.  She 
has,  as  it  were,  with  an  invading  army,  proclaimed  Maximilian 
Emperor  of  Mexico  ;  but  he,  never  having  been  in  possession  of 
a  square  foot  of  ground  which  French  troops  have  not  for  the 
moment  occupied,  has  been  unable  to  exercise  his  so-called 
function  unless  guarded  by  the  bayonets  which  not  only  pro- 
tect, but  think  and  dictate  his  policy,  making  him  the  most 
perfect  android  of  this  century.  What  right  has  he  to  acknowl- 
edge a  debt  of  270,000,000  francs  on  the  part  of  Mexico  to 
France,  or  yet  to  negotiate  a  Mexican  loan,  as  has  been  done  on 
the  French  Bourse  ?  Being  a  mere  puppet  in  the  hands  of  the 
military  power,  he  is,  as  it  were,  an  officer  of  the  invading  force, 
who,  within  a  mobilized  encampment,  with  guns  shotted  and 
troops  ready  to  spring  to  arms  at  the  sound  of  the  "  long  roll," 
signs  a  treaty  and  binds  the  country  he  invades  to  a  course  of 
action  which  the  real  government  cannot,  for  a  moment,  sanc- 
tion. Deny  the  existence  of  the  liberal  government  all  they 
may,  the  fact  that  fifty  thousand  French  troops,  with  all  their 
splendid  discipline,  war  material,  and  equipment,  cannot,  or  do 
not,  to-day,  hold  one-third  of  the  country  against  the  half- 
starved  and  poorly  supplied  patriots  opposed  to  them,  is  the 
most  tangible  and  powerful  recognition  that  can  be  granted 
that  there  is  a  force  superior  to  their  own,  which,  if  the  French 
Foreign  Minister  does  not  recognize,  the  Treasury  of  France 
does,  and  that,  too,  every  day,  with  immense  and  constantly 
increasing  additions  to  the  debit  side  of  the  account,  while  the 
credit  side  is  as  blank  as  the  soul  which  gave  the  expedition 
birth.  The  truth  is,  France  sends  an  expedition  to  Mexico,  sets 
up  her  android  upon  what  she  classifies  as  a  throne,  writes  out 
her  bill  of  indemnitv,  orders  it  to  be  signed,  and  lo  !  Mexico 
owes  France  at  least  $200,000,000. 

If  France  evacuates  Mexico  and  Maximilian  follows,  with 
whom  can  Napoleon  treat  ?  The  allies  acknowledged  the  exist- 
ence of  the  liberal  government  by  the  treaty  of  La  Soledad, 


when  they  first  entered  the  country ;  and,  as  we  have  said,  fifty 
thousand  troops  have  recognized  it  ever  since;  but  if,  by  a 
treaty  011  any  subject,  they  again  recognize  that  government 
they  have  so  constantly  ignored,  it  will  be  a  virtual  acknowl- 
edgment that  they  have  never,  in  truth,  been  able  to  foist  upon 
the  country  their  bogus  monarchy,  and  therefore  its  acts  must 
fall  with  it,  including  the  debts  which  have  been  contracted  in 
the  attempt  to  maintain  it  upon  such  unpromising  soil.  In 
truth  the  constitutional  government  has  ever  been  since  the 
French  invasion  the  real  government,  and  never  has  there  been 
at  any  moment  one-third  of  the  country  under  the  shadow  of 
foreign  bayonets. 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  is  unfortunately  bound,  to  a  certain 
degree,  to  protect  the  prince  of  Austria,  who  was  induced  to 
place  himself  in  so  doubtful  a  position ;  the  honor  of  France  is 
here  also  at  stake.  In  a  discussion  in  the  French  Chambers,  in 
January,  1864,  M.  Thiers  boldly  stated,  that  "  when  a  prince  is 
taken  from  one  of  the  greatest  reigning  families  of  Europe,  when 
that  family  is  asked  for  a  prince  to  be  delivered  up 'to  the  haz- 
ards of  those  civil  wars  so  frequent  in  Mexico,  to  pretend  that 
there  is  no  obligation  contracted  towards  him  and  his,  is  to  ad- 
vance a  theory  not  very  honorable  to  France."  France,  then, 
is  assailed  by  a  double  dishonor.  If  she  withdraws  from  Mexico 
and  abandons  Maximilian  to  his  fate,  she  acknowledges  her 
Mexican  expedition  a  complete  failure,  and  sinks  much  glory, 
much  treasure,  and  much  prestige  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
while,  on  the  other  side,  it  is  equivalent  to  almost  open  war 
with  Austria.  French  treasure  and  Austrian  troops  naturally 
become  the  next  expedient.  When  that  policy  fails,  will  not  a 
European  war  be  necessary  to  give  employment  to  the  French 
mind  and  gloss  over  the  Mexican  failure  ?  It  is  far  from  im- 
probable that  the  reaction  of  the  French  Mexican  scheme  may 
cause  Europe  some  trouble,  and  may  lead  to  complications  not 
to  be  measured  by  words,  but  by  swords. 

In  our  present  condition  in  tht  United  States,  the  result  of 
four  years  of  civil  strife  and  terrible  carnage,  we  are  naturally 
left  in  a  position  where  the  elements  are  still  simmering  under 
the  latent  heat  which  produced  the  great  rebellion.  Aside  from 
our  abstract  views  of  foreign  interference  in  the  governments  of 
our  Western  World,  we  have  a  home  interest  to  look  to,  which 
is  not  among  the  least  important.  All  unsettled  as  we  are,  and 
seeking,  as  yet,  to  mingle  the  States  into  a  more  homogeneous 
nationality,  the  presence  of  a  foreign  monarchical  element  upon 
our  southwestern  frontier  is  a  constant  source,  if  not  of  alarm, 
at  least  of  suspicion,  which  calls  our  earnest  attention  to  its  re- 
moval at  the  earliest  moment.  We  do  not  want  a  war  with 
France ;  we  are  too  closely  bound  in  the  ties  which  were  woven 


75 

in  our  War  of  Independence  to  wish  to  live  in  other  than  the 
most  amicable  relations  with  her ;  but  it  is  the  feeling  of  the 
whole  nation  that  this  French-Mexican  scheme  is  a  constant 
threat  against  our  people,  which,  if  long  continued,  can  bat  ripen 
into  bitter  fruit  and  destroy  a  friendship  which  we  highly  prize 
so  long  as  we  can  enjoy  it  with  honor.  We  feel,  that  the  time 
set  for  the  withdrawal  of  the  French  forces  is  too  distant,  and 
that  it  is  fixed  more  with  reference  to  the  hope  that  some  lucky 
turn  of  events  in  the  United  States  may  leave  the  Mexican  ex- 
pedition undisturbed,  than  it  is  with  a  view  to  an  abandonment 
of  the  Mexican  scheme  of  empire.  We  hazard  little  in  predict- 
ing that  the  Mexican  question  has  scarcely  yet  reached  its 
secondary  phase. 

Notwithstanding  our  warning  to  Austria  not  to  embark 
troops  to  replace  those  of  France  in  Mexico,  reliable  news 
reaches  us  that  the  first  shipment  of  such  troops  has  already 
taken  place.  There  is,  moreover,  no  law  which  prevents  Ger- 
mans from  emigrating  where  they  please ;  and  there  is  no  law 
which  prevents  France  and  Austria  from  supplying  Maximilian 
with  all  the  material  of  war  he  may  demand.  The  truth  is 
that  the  liberals,  unless  they  receive  assistance,  must  depend 
upon  their  own  good  swords  for  some  time  yet.  It  is  but  justice, 
however,  that  they  should  receive  assistance,  and  that,  too,  from 
our  Government.  We  have  long  enough  nursed  the  selfish 
policy  of  non-intervention  in  the  affairs  of  the  Spanish- American 
Eepublics  ;  long  enough  seen  them  browbeaten  and  plundered 
by  monarchical  Europe,  which  has  taken  advantage  of  our  self- 
ishness in  forcing  all  the  struggling  republics  to  the  south  of 
us  from  enjoying  any  ray  of  light  from  us  excepting  that  which 
has  given  them  their  revolutionary  impetus.  Sisters  in  a  com- 
mon cause,  we  have  acted  most  unkindly  towards  them,  and  the 
results  we  every  day  witness  in  such  acts  as  the  invasion  of 
Mexico,  and  the  bullying  of  the  whole  Pacific  coast  by  Spain, 
which,  the  news  just  reaches  us,  has  added  the  appendix  to  the 
long  list  of  horrors  which,  through  her  hands,  have  cursed 
Spanish-America,  by  the  disgraceful  bombardment  of  Val- 
paraiso. Surely  we  lack  generosity,  surely  we  are  without 
common  humanity  even,  if  we  permit  these  constant  and  glar- 
ing outrages  upon  a  people  who  are  struggling  to  raise  their 
heads  above  the  inherited  curses  of  Europe.  Even  in  a  selfish 
point  of  view  the  benefits  which  we  might  reap  in  throwing  a 
protecting  influence  over  Spanish-America  would  more  than 
repay  all  warfare  which  we  might  have  to  wage  on  their  ac- 
count ;  for,  once  be  it  known  that  we  stood  as  the  champion  of 
justice  between  them  and  the  European  nations,  there  would  be 
no  causes  given  for  any  active  interference.  The  nation  that 
lives  entirely  for  itself  can  make  but  a  poor  mark  in  the  history 


76 

of  the  world,  and  the  jingle  of  its  money  bags  will  scarcely  throw 
its  echoes  so  far  into  the  future  as  would  the  broad  policy  of 
protection  to  human  progress. 

France  recognizes  the  government  of  Maximilian  as  the 
legitimate  ruling  power  ot  Mexico  ;  we  recognize  that  of  the 
liberals,  under  Juarez.  France1  is  not  making  war  against  < 
Mexico,  but  is  furnishing  troops  to  what  she  calls  the  legitimate 
government,  for  a  stipulated  price  according  to  a  written  con- 
tract. Now,  if  France  has  the  right  to  furnish  the  government 
which  she  recognizes  with  mercenary  troops  and  money  to 
carry  on  the  war — and  this  right  is  recognized  in  Europe  by 
other  governments — why  have  we  not  a  similar  legitimate  right 
to  furnish  war  materiel  and  cash  to  the  government  which  we 
recognize  ?  The  liberals  are  not  in  want  of  men.  They  could 
to-day  raise  an  army  of  three  hundred  thousand  had  they  the 
means  for  supplying  it  with  munitions  of  war.  They  want 
money,  and  we  as  a  people  would  onlv  be  doing  them  and  their 
cause  simple  justice  were  we  to  furnish  it  to  them  in  whatever 
quantities  may  be  required.  "We  do  not  advocate  this  course 
that  we  may  gain  any  foothold  in  the  Northern  provinces  of 
Mexico,  for  we  have  quite  territory  enough  to  suit  the  mass  of 
the  American  people ;  although  there  be  many  who  have  made 
large  investments  in  Sonora  with  the  hope  that  the  schemes  of 
President  Buchanan,  in  1859,  might  redound  to  the  advantage 
of  those  who  were  in  the  secret.  These  men  are  now  willing 
to  argue  for  any  government  which  promises  stability,  without 
reference  to  its  principles.  We  believe,  however,  that  their 
only  hope  of  stability  in  the  Northern  provinces,  unless  they 
are  annexed  to  the  united  States,  is  in  the  liberal  government, 
for  they  will  assuredly  be  the  battle  ground  of  the  contending 
parties  until  Maximilian  is  driven  from  the  country. 

The  present  .condition  of  Mexico  is  scarcely  changed  from 
what  it  was  at  the  first  occupation  of  the  French  troops  and 
the  crowning  of  Maximilian.  The  Emperor  can  scarcely  travel 
five  miles  in  any  direction  without  a  large  escort,  as  a  protec- 
tion against  the  guerrilla  bands,  which  keep  the  foreign  troops 
constantly  employed,  even  in  the  most  pacified  districts.  Of 
the  war  in  the  Northern  provinces,  we  hear  the  most  conflicting 
accounts ;  but  judging  even  from  those  most  in  favor  of  the 
Imperialists,  they  are  waging  an  exhaustive  warfare  against  the 
large  and  constantly  increasing  forces  of  the  liberals,  who  ap- 
pear to  be  rapidly  gaining  ground. 

^The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  of  March  9,  1865,  says  :— "  It  looks 
as  if  we  might  hope  for  peace  and  civilization  when  there  are 
no  more  Mexicans.  Mexico  had  her  dawn  of  civilization  and 
peace  at  the  very  moment  that  France  invaded  her  soil  in  1862, 
and  the  true  hope  for  her  is  when  there  are  no  more  foreign 


77 

bayonets  upon  her  soil  to  thrust  her  back  into  the  darkness  from 
which  she  had  just  emerged.  From  calculations  made  from 
official  dispatches,  published  in  the  Mexican  imperial  journals, 
it  appears  that  there  took  place,  during  the  year  1865,  three 
hundred  and  twenty -two  encounters  of  arms,  or  about  on  an 
average,  a  battle  or  a  skirmish  for  every  day  in  the  year.  Is 
Mexico  under  control  of  Maximilian  or  the  liberalists? 

The  war  which  has  been  waged  by  the  French  troops  is  in 
no  manner  superior  in  character  to  that  civil  warfare  which 
was  in  Europe  so  much  condemned  before  the  landing  of  a 
foreign  force.  The  mercenaries  of  Maximilian  have,  if  we  may 
believe  all  accounts,  been  as  rigorously  cruel  in  their  treatment 
of  the  Mexicans  opposed  to  them  as  ever  England  was  in  the 
treatment  of  the  Sepoy  troops  during  the  East  India  rebellion. 
The  barbarous  order  of  Maximilian,  in  October,  1865,  to  mer- 
cilessly shoot  down  all  liberals  found  under  arms  shows  not 
only  how  hard  the  imperial  forces  have  been  pressed,  but  also 
the  sanguinary  character  of  the  struggle  which  they  are  forced 
to  maintain  to  preserve  even  a  show  of  European-reflected  roy- 
alty upon  the  soil  which  had  been  so  dishonorably  usurped. 
The  liberals  are,  however,  fast  effecting  the  recovery  of  the 
country.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  battles  are  con- 
stantly increasing  in  number,  and  that  where  there  was  one 
battle  in  the  opening  of  1865,  there  are  now  two.  No  quarter 
has  been  the  rule  of  warfare,  and  the  result  has  been  a  terrible 
loss  of  life  on  both  sides.  The  desperate  resolve  of  the  Mexi- 
cans to  free  their  soil  from  the  invader  makes  the  task  of  the 
latter  to  pacify  the  country  almost  a  hopeless  one,  while  the 
"moral  support"  which  the  Emperor  Napoleon  furnishes  to 
the  government  he  has  so  generously  permitted  the  Mexican 
people  to  unanimously  choose,  is  fast  losing  ground  before  the 
sturdy  blows  of  a  people  who  prefer  the  enshrinement  of  a 
different  kind  of  morality  upon  their  political  altars. 

From  reliable  information  the  imperial  treasury  of  Max- 
imilian is  almost  as  hard  pushed  for  funds  as  was  that  of  the 
liberals  when  the  invaders  first  landed.  It  appears  that  they 
have  already  been  obliged  to  resort  to  that  plan  to  which  their 
predecessors  in  power  have  been  forced  before  them — the  sell- 
ing of  the  orders  of  the  Minister  of  Finance  on  the  Custom 
Houses  at  a  discount — to  obtain  means  to  meet  the  demands  on 
the  Treasury.  There  is  but  one  hope.  Maximilian  again  turns 
his  eyes  towards  Napoleon,  and  Napoleon  towards  the  French 
people.  Will  the  latter,  already  depleted  in  purse  by  this  heavy 
drain  in  support  of  an  idea,  again  respond,  and  aid  the  Mexican 
Imperialists  in  the  formation  of  a  foreign  legion  with  which  to 
continue  their  policy  of  Mexican  pacification  ? 


78 


SUPPLEMENT. 

SUCCESSES  or  THE  LIBERALS — MAXIMILIAN  GROSSLY  DECEIVED — 
FINANCIAL  CONDITION  OF  THE  COUNTRY — CHURCH  PARTY 
WITH  SANTA  ANNA  AGAIN  IN  THE  FIELD — EFFECTS  OF  THE 
INVASION — DISPUTE  ABOUT  THE  PRESIDENCY  —  GRANT  OF 
EXTRAORDINARY  POWERS  TO  JUAREZ — MEXICO  FIGHTS  THE 
REPUBLICAN  BATTLE  FOR  THE  WHOLE  CONTINENT — CON- 
CLUDING REMARKS. 

The  late  information  from  Mexico  informs  us  that  the  so- 
called  empire  is  tottering  to  its  fall ;  and  yet,  we  believe  that 
efforts  will  be  made  to  maintain  it  in  the  face  of  every  obstacle ; 
the  liberals  are,  however,  overrunning  the  whole  country  j  and 
the  strong  strategic  positions  of  the  various  States  are  rapidly 
falling  into  their  hands.  Were  the  Emperor  Napoleon  famed 
for  his  honor,  we  might  anticipate  some  new  move  in  favor  of 
the  unfortunate  prince  Maximilian,  to  whom  he  has  presented 
a  "  sacred  white  elephant ;"  but  we  are  too  well  instructed  in 
his  history  to  believe  that  the  man  who  could  approve  of  per- 
fidy in  the  first  act  at  LP  Soled  ad,  can  blush  at  the  desertion  of 
the  archduke  in  the  present  condition  of  the  tragic-comedy  called 
the  Empire.  As  we  have  before  remarked,  European  complica- 
tions may  be  necessary  to  gloss  over  the  failure ;  and  there  is 
more  of  Mexico  to-day  in  the  present  hostile  attitude  of  the 
great  powers  of  Europe,  than  is  seen  upon  the  surface. 

The  archduke  Maximilian  was~grossly  deceived  by  all  par- 
ties, as  to  the  condition  of  Mexico,  before  he  crossed  the  Atlan- 
tic. The  misrepresentations  of  the  interested  European  powers 
were  only  made  patent  to  him  when  he  found  that  the  part 
of  Mexico  which  he  governed  was  only  ruled  under  the  gleam 
of  foreign  bayonets  :  and  yet  it  appears  that,  in  the  treaty 
which  he  made  wi  h  Napoleon  III.,  for  the  retention  of  a  whole 
corps  <V  armee,  he  was  somewhat  doubtful  of  the  truth  of  the 
picture  of  Mexico  which  the  clergy  photographed  upon  the 
the  monarchical  retina  of  Europe.  Perhaps  he  even  dis- 
trusted the  truthfulness  of  Santa  Anna's  words,  who,  on  the 
22d  December,  1863,  wrote  to  him — "  I  may  also  assure  your 
Imperial  Highness  that  the  voice  raised  in  ^Mexico  to  proclaim 
your  respected  name  is  not  the  voice  of  a  party.  An  immense 
majority  of  the  nation  desire  to  restore  the  empire  of  the  Mon- 
tezumas  with  your  Imperial  Highness  at  its  head,  believing  it 
to  be  the  only  remedy  for  existing  ills,  and  the  ultimate  anchor 
of  its  hopes.'' 


79 

The  financial  condition  of  the  so-called  empire  is  to-day 
worse  than  that  of  any  party  which  ever  occupied  the  capital 
during  any  revolutionary  overturning  in  the  country.  The  so- 
called  empire  has  attempted  to  load  Mexico  with  a  mountain  of 
debt,  many  times  exceeding  that  which  the  nation  owed  in 
1861 ;  while  the  immense  increase  of  expenditures  for  this 
bastard  government  compares  very  unfavorably  with  the  more 
democratic  outlays  for  the  support  of  republican  institutions. 

Up  to  January  1st,  1866,  official  data,  published  at  Wash- 
ington, shows : 

First.  That  France  has  charged  to  Mexico  for 

expenses  of  invasion  to  July  1st,  1864. .  $50,000,000 
Second.  That  loans  have  been  negotiated  for 

Maximilian  in  France,  amounting  to.  .  .  150,000,000 
Third.  That  the  claims  of  France,  admitted  by 

the    constitutional   government    before 

the  intervention,  were  only 2,859,917 

Fourth.  That  the  French  claims  recognized  by 

Maximilian  already  amount  to 192,962,962 


We  have  also  the  following 

COMPARISONS. 
Foreign  debt,  as  attempted  to  be  recognized  by 

Maximilian $271,735,605 

Foreign  debt,  as  recognized  by  the  constitutional 

government 81,632,560 


Attempted  increase  by  Maximilian $190,103,045 

Annual  interest  required  to  be  paid  by  Maxi- 
milian   $12,966,204 

Annual  interest  under  the  government  of  the 

Eepublic 2,760,022 

Attempted  increase  by  Maximilian $10,206, 1 82 

Annual  expenditures  under  Maximilian $49,929,326 

Annual    expenditures,   fixed  by   the    national 

Congress,  under  the  Republic 11,087,440 

Annual  increase  under  Maximilian $38,841,886 

Annual  salary  of  Maximilian,  so  called  Em- 
peror of  Mexico $1,500,000 

Annual  salary  of  the  President  of  the  Republic.  30,000 


80 

It  will  be  here  noticed  that  the  interest  alone,  which  is  re- 
quired to  be  paid  by  Maximilian,  exceeds  by  almost  two  millions 
of  dollars  the  total  annual  expenditures  sanctioned  by  the  con- 
stitutional Congress,  before  the  invasion. 

The  result  of  these  considerations  shows  with  severity 
against  the  attempted  foisting  of  a  monarchical  government 
upon  the  country.  To  make  this  indebtedness  good,  there  is  a 
combination  of  a  powerful  moneyed  interest  to  uphold  the  em- 
pire, upon  which  they  put  almost  their  total  dependence  for 
future  payment  of  claims.  This  moneyed  interest  is  very  nearly 
equal  in  amount,  although  not  equal  in  power,  to  that  which 
the  church  held,  while  for  so  many  years  it  contested  the  rights 
of  cash  against  high  political  principles.  In  support  of  the 
empire  there  is  also  a  considerable  party  of  Mexicans  who  em- 
barked their  fortunes  in  it ;  others  who  have  received  titles  and 
distinctions  under  it ;  others  who  have  grown  rich  from  its  con- 
tracts ;  others  who  have  entered  the  country  from  foreign  lands 
and  accepted  from  it  peculiar  and  valuable  privileges  ;  all  com- 
bined forming  a  powerful  party,  not  entirely  to  be  ignored,  even 
after  the  promised  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops.  But  we 
believe  that  the  postponement  of  this  withdrawal  to  so  late  a 
date,  is  to  give  all  these  interests  time  to  consolidate,  with  the 
hope  also,  that,  in  eighteen  months,  the  additional  interests  that 
may  be  brought  to  work  in  harmony  with  the  others,  may  en- 
able the  imperial  government  to  make  head  against  all  oppo- 
nents. In  view  of  this,  we  question  the  wisdom  of  our  govern- 
ment in  allowing  the  longer  continuance  of  this  bastard  usurp- 
ation of  the  rights  of  a  people,  and  the  enduring  of  this  stand- 
ing insult  to  the  whole  Western  continent. 

The  church  party  are  also  in  the  field  with  new  political  com- 
binations, with  the  hope  that,  by  some  extraordinary  turn  of 
fortune,  they  may  regain  some  of  their  lost  power,  and  re-estab- 
lish a  reactionary  government  in  place  of  that  to  which  they 
betrayed  their  country,  and  which  in  turn  betrayed  them. 
Again,  as  of  old,  their  exponent  is  Santa  Anna ;  and  this  retro- 
gressive champion  issues  a  pronunciamiento*  crying  "  Down 
with  the  empire !  " — which  he  helped  establish — and  "  Long  live 
the  republic !  "  —  which  he  helped  overthrow.  The  clergy, 
with  the  hope  of  driving  from  the  soil  the  power  which 
has  broken  faith  with  them,  are  now  making  one  grand 
rally  to  free  themselves  from  its  weight ;  therefore  they 
cry  Union  of  all  parties  and  all  political  creeds,  but 
they  want  Union  and  the  Leadership ;  this,  ,we  believe, 


See  New  York  Herald,  June  14,  1866. 


81 

would  be  ruin  to  the  liberal  cause,  and  we  see  in  it,  therefore, 
the  reasons  for  the  distrust  with  which  all  the  liberals  look  at 
the  attempted  foisting  of  Santa  Anna  upon  the  republican  plat- 
form. The  clergy,  finding  that  they  cannot  establish  a  church 
party,  and  that  intervention  and  monarchy  fail  to  drown  the 
the  republic  in  their  waves,  very  naturally  seek  for  a  footing 
under  the  republican  standard,  and  demand  a  position  which  it 
would  be  fatal  for  the  liberals  to  grant  them. 

Growing  out  of  French  invasion  and  the  consequent  dis- 
tracted condition  of  the  country,  there  are  other  combinations 
in  the  field  derogatory  to  the  true  interests  of  Mexican  civiliza- 
tion and  progress.  Among  these  has  been  the  inability  of  the 
Mexican  people  to  hold  a  constitutional  election  for  President 
before  the  expiration  of  the  late  presidential  term.  The  result 
has  been  that,  by  virtue  of  the  constitution,  General  Ortega,  as 
"  President  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice,"  considered  him- 
self entitled,  on  the  1st  December,  1865,  to  the  presidential 
chair.  On  that  date,  however,  he  was  absent  from  the  country, 
and,  therefore,  could  not  assume  the  duties  of  the  office.  He  had 
claimed  that  he  was  entitled  to  the  seat  in  1864;  but  the 
decision  of  the  cabinet  was  against  him,  and  to  this  he  appar- 
ently acquiesced  like  a  true  patriot. 

It  is  easy  to  sit  quietly  in  one's  study  and  render  a  decision 
of 'what  is  the  right  in  time  of  peace ;  but  in  time  of  great 
public  peril,  when,  by  civil  commotion,  by  foreign  invasion,  and 
by  a  struggle  that  saps  the  life-blood  of  a  nation,  the  whole 
conditions  of  the  problem  become  changed,  a  point  at  least 
should  be  yielded  to  that  stern  military  law  which  is  the  growth 
of  the  moment,  and  which,  unwritten,  is  still  to  be  considered 
when  the  destinies  of  a  people  perhaps  hang  upon  the  firmness 
of  the  hand  that  presses  the  helm.  A  true  patriot  never  leaves 
his  post  at  that  moment,  no  matter  what  personal  considera- 
tions may  influence  him. 

It  is  not  within  our  province  to  decide  the  question  of 
Ortega's  right  to  the  presidency,  but  we  believe  that  a  strict 
rendering  of  military  law  would  cause  his  arrest  for  desertion 
and  trial  by  court  martial  were  he  to  return  to  Mexico ;  for, 
nearly  twelve  months  previous  to  the  time  at  which  the  cabinet 
of  Juarez  decided  that  the  presidential  term  should  be  extended, 
General  Ortega  applied  for,  and  received  from  his  government, 
a  "  leave  of  transit "  from  Chihuahua  through  the  United  States 
to  another  part  of  Mexico,  for  the  purpose  of  organizing 
some  military  expedition  against  the  enemy.  Ever  since  this 
leave  was  granted  Ortega  has  been  in  the  United  States. 
Instead  of  standing  beside  the  other  heroes  of  Mexico  who  have 


82 

so  bravely  fought  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  he  has  apparently  de- 
serted the  cause  of  his  country.  General  Ortega  is  a  brave  man, 
with  many  good  qualities  of  head  and  heart ;  but  his  place  was 
by  the  side  of  Juarez,  battling  for  the  overthrow  of  the  empire, 
that,  in  case  of  the  death  of  the  latter,  he  might  take  up  the 
standard  and  continue  the  contest.  Should  Juarez  die,  there  is 
no  one  to  fill  the  chair,  according  to  the  letter  of  the  constitu- 
tion, unless,  by  virtue  of  the  powers  vested  in  him  by  the 
National  Congress,  he  has  appointed  some  one.  The  decrees  of 
Congress,  for  this  and  every  purpose,  have  been  more  than 
ample,  and  show  what  confidence  has  been  centered  in  the 
present  incumbent  of  the  presidential  chair.  On  December  11, 
1861,  Congress  granted  extraordinary  powers  to  the  President, 
only  limiting  him  to  the  preservation  of  the  national  territory 
and  the  independence  of  the  country  intact,  and  the  support  of 
the  constitution.  On  December  13,  1861,  a  supplementary 
article  was  added,  even  granting  power  "  to  conclude  treaties 
and  conventions,  and  place  them  in  the  course  of  execution/' 
Again,  May  3,  1862,  and  October  27,  1862,  and  still  again  May 
27, 1863,  Congress  reconfirmed  these  extraordinary  powers  to 
the  President,  who,  on  the  8th  Nov.,  1865,  by  their  virtue, 
issued  a  decree  extending  his  term  of  office,  and  also  that  of  the 
".President  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Justice,"  until  "  the  condi- 
tion of  the  war  may  permit  an  election  to  be  constitutionally 
held."  ^ 

Besides  the  reasons  given  in  this  decree  for  the  extension, 
there  were  other  and  powerful  ones,  born  of  the  situation 
and  potent  in  their  solution  of  the  contest  against  the 
invaders  of  the  soil.  It  was  a  case  of  imperious  necessity  that 
Juarez  should  continue  to  govern ;  for,  it  was  his  government 
that  the  French  proclaimed  war  against,  and  not  against  the 
Mexican  people  who  had  with  an  overwhelming  majority 
placed  him  in  the  presidential  chair.  The  wish  of  every  true 
Mexican  was,  therefore,  that  the  man  of  their  choice  should 
remain  at  the  head  of  their  government,  in  the  face  of  all  for- 
eign opposition ;  providing  that,  in  addition  to  this  wish,  there 
were  good  and  sufficient  constitutional  reasons  forhis  so  doing. 
In  this  view  then,  Juarez  represents  the  will  of  Mexico  in 
opposition  to  the  will  of  France.  It  was,  moreover,  necessary 
to  have  a  sterling  man  in  the  position,  that  required  a  persistent, 
unwavering  purpose,  with  unfaltering  nerve,  to  wage  a  contest 
of  years  against  the  bastard  empire  of  Maximilian !  Fortunate 
has  it  been  for  Mexico  that  she  found  the  man  whose  sterling 
integrity  was  proof  against  all  the  dazzling  allurements  of  the 
empire ;  who  could  not  be  bought,  nor  yet  deceived ;  whose 


S3 

sole  purpose  of  life  appears  to  be  to  free  his  country  from  her 
invaders,  and  restore  the  cause  of  order  and  civilization  which 
foreign  intervention  so  rudely  hurled  aside,  at  the  moment  it 
was  established,  after  the  terrific  battle  of  half  a  century. 

The  attempt  of  France  to  overthrow  the  government  of  the 
people  has,  thus  far,  been  unsuccessful,  and  it  should  be  the 
effort  to-day  of  every  real  Mexican  patriot  to  prevent  the  ma- 
chinations of  the  French  Emperor  from  establishing  any  govern- 
ment in  place  of  the  present  liberal  one  whereby,  upon  the 
exodus  of  Maximilian,  he  may  be  able  to  attach  to  the  Mexican 
national  debt  the  long^nd  unfortunate  bill  he  has  contracted 
in  his  foolish  attempt  to  establish  an  empire  in  the  heart  of  the 
Western  Republican  World ! 

Mexico  is  to-day  fighting  the  great  battle  of  republicanism 
against  imperialism.  The  direct  insult  which  France  offered 
to  the  Mexican  people,  in  the  attempt  to  establish  a  government 
not  of  their  cJtmce,  is  also  an  indirect  insult  to  every  republic 
on  this  continent,  and  most  of  all  to  the  United  States.  The 
conquest  of  Mexico  was  to  be  a  foothold  for  the  propagandism 
of  monarchical  ideas  in  the  New  World.  One  after  the  other 
the  republics  were  to  fall  until  human  liberty  and  republi- 
canism became  a  transient  bubble  of  the  past,  that  showed  its 
bright  colors  in  the  sunshine,  but  burst  at  the  first  blast ;  but 
the  wave  of  imperialism  has  broken  against  a  rock  ;  lashed  into 
foam,  it  hurls  itself  in  vain  against  an  unaided  and  poverty- 
stricken  republic  which  fifty  years  of  civil  strife  have  torn  and 
wounded  to  the  heart.  Shame !  shame !  that  we,  as  a  people, 
look  on  quietly  and  see  Mexico  fight  the  battle  of  both  North 
and  South  America.  Shame !  to  the  Great  Republic  that  we 
bind  our  sympathies  in  the  shroud  of  selfishness  and  see  im- 
perial Europe  scourge,  without  cause,  the  young  republics  to 
the  south  of  us,  who,  just  struggling  into  the  lignt  of  civiliza- 
tion, are  baffled  and  thrown  back  into  the  past  because  the 
Colossus  of  the  North  lies  dead  to  their  appeals  against  a  com- 
mon enemy. 

With  the  overthrow  of  Maximilian,  there  will  naturally 
arise  new  complications,  born  of  the  evils  which  have  dropped 
from  the  folds  of  the  French  flag.  The  whole  political  atmos- 
phere, driven  into  cloud  and  whirlwind  by  the  invasion,  will 
not  settle  into  calm  under  the  first  ray  of  sunshine. 

Our  own  civil  war,  and  its  present  phase,  should  teach  us  to 
have  patience  with  a  people  whose  political  fortunes  have  been 
stirred  to  more  tragic  action  by  five  decades  of  contest  and  the 
solution  of  a  dozen  curses  in  its  one  great  crucible  of  revolu- 
tion. Grant  them  a  few  years  to  restore  their  country  ! — first, 


to  the  condition  in  which  the  allies  found  it  in  1861,  when 
they  cursed  it  with  their  presence ;  then  the  reorganization  of 
the  whole  civil  and  political  forces  overturned  by  the  invasion  ; 
and,  finally,  the  restoration  of  the  organic  law  of  the  land,  the 
constitution  of  1857,  with  all  the  civilizing  reforms  that 
attended  it. 


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